


Bryan Denton and the Horrible Decision to Take Care of Teenage Boys

by jumpinjazzcat



Category: Newsies - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, and i love him, hotshot is ftm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:07:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 37
Words: 24,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27839608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jumpinjazzcat/pseuds/jumpinjazzcat
Summary: Yesterday, Medda told Bryan that he's going gray. His response was something along the lines of "well, that's what happens when you take care of a ragtag group of teenage boys."Being a father figure to a handful of teenagers is exhausting. Bryan thanks the powers that be everyday for the blessing that is Medda Larkin. Denton saved up a shit ton of money a few years ago, and Medda chipped in, so that he could buy a larger apartment to house all of the boys. Jack, Race, Spot, Crutchie, Romeo, Specs, and Albert are, quite possibly, the worst people to live with. They're loud, and clumsy, and they leave their stuff everywhere , but Bryan would do anything for them.
Relationships: Bryan Denton/Original Male Character(s), David Jacobs/Jack Kelly, Romeo/Original Female Character(s), Sarah Jacobs/Katherine Plumber Pulitzer, Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins
Comments: 265
Kudos: 85
Collections: newsies fics by me!





	1. the delanceys suck end tweet

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [ryan and stazzy's horrible newsies headcanons](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27818515) by [jumpinjazzcat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jumpinjazzcat/pseuds/jumpinjazzcat). 



> I've decided to not use Archive warnings because they could contain spoilers. I will put trigger warnings in the beginning notes of a chapter if it contains anything potentially triggering.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jacky boy has a panic attack and it's the delancey's fault

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warning in this chapter for mentions of homophobia and panic attacks (it's not bad, but it's still there). Let me know if y'all have any uncommon triggers so I can put a tw for them!

Yesterday, Medda told Bryan that he's going gray. His response was something along the lines of "well, that's what happens when you take care of a ragtag group of teenage boys."

Being a father figure to a handful of teenagers is exhausting. Bryan thanks the powers that be everyday for the blessing that is Medda Larkin. Denton saved up a shit ton of money a few years ago, and Medda chipped in, so that he could buy a larger apartment to house all of the boys. Jack, Race, Spot, Crutchie, Romeo, Specs, and Albert are, quite possibly, the worst people to live with. They're loud, and clumsy, and they leave their stuff _everywhere_ , but Bryan would do **anything** for them.

Bryan knocks on the door before entering Jack's room. Jack got his own room because he's the oldest and he needed space for his art supplies. Race complains about it every single day, but everyone knows that Race definitely doesn't mind sharing a room with Spot. 

"Jack, bud, you gotta get up." Bryan whispers. Jack groans.

"Don't wanna."

"You have to! You have work in an hour."

Jack throws a pillow at him. Bryan sighs, and goes to wake up Racetrack and Spot.

"Boys, it's time to wake up," Bryan starts to say, but Spot is already getting out of bed. The noise of the door opening wakes Race up, and he's so caught off guard that he falls off of the top bunk. 

"Ouch."

"You're a dumbass, Race." Spot says. Bryan shushes him.

"Spot, we talked about the swearing. Crutchie is awake, and we don't want him to hear it."

"Jesus, Bryan," Race says, rolling his eyes, "He's thirteen, not five."

They head to the kitchen, where Jack is making breakfast for Crutchie.

"Mornin', Race. Do you want pancakes?" he asks, already flipping a pancake on the stove.

"Is that even a question?" Race asks, sitting down at the table.

"Wow, not even a good morning?" Spot mutters to Jack as he walks to the fridge. Jack hip-checks him.

"Good morning, Spot!" everyone choruses. Spot sighs.

Sarah bursts through the door, a sheepish Dave (carrying a barely awake Les) trailing behind her.

"I have great news!" she yells. From the other room, Albert and Specs yell for her to shut the fuck up.

"Albert! Specs! No swearing!" Bryan admonishes. Crutchie laughs, and says something in ASL to Les. Les signs back quickly, and Crutchie wheezes so hard that he almost falls out of his chair.

"What's the good news, Sarah?" Romeo asks, sitting down next to Race and snatching his plate of pancakes away. Race hits him on the head with a fork, forcing Jack to rush over and stop them.

Sarah sits down, out of breath. "Kath called me this morning, and she said that Jack could get a job at the Sun! He can draw political cartoons," she says, all in one breath.

"Saz," Davey says, "You need to breathe." Sarah inhales deeply.

Jack is estatic, and he and Sarah spend the next fifteen minutes chatting excitedly about his possible new job. Spot interrupts them, reminding Jack that he has an _current job_ that he's about to be late for. Jack jumps up, having seemingly forgot this information.

"I can drive you!" Romeo says.

"You absolutely cannot." Bryan says.

Romeo isn't allowed to drive the car. Under any circumstance. He almost crashed the car once when Jack let him drive (in a parking lot when he was younger) and has failed his driving test several times since. Neither is Race, because Race has a tendency to space out and not realize that he's speeding. Actually, on that note, Bryan is reminded to ask Race if he took his ADHD meds today.

"Race, did you take your meds?" he asks, and Race nods. "Good."

"I'll just take the train to work," Jack says. Les and Sarah look at Davey, who's frowning slightly.

"Call me when you get to Grand Central," he says. Jack kisses his forehead.

"I'm gonna be just fine, Dave."

Jack does not end up being "just fine." He calls Davey.

"You alright?" Davey asks, putting Jack on speaker. 

"I was, but I kind of lost it when I got to work? I'm hiding in the storage room."

"What happened?" Race asks.

"The Delanceys were on my train," Jack says, "They started saying homophobic shit, calling me the f-slur and whatnot, and I was fine until I got to work. It just...hit me and I started panicking. I'm okay now, though. Everything is fine."

"I'll kick their asses!" Race announces. Spot scoffs at him.

"No you won't," he says, "You weigh nothing, you're a shitty fighter, and they'll kick your ass."

"You can come with me! We'll beat them up together!"

Bryan sighs. "No one is beating anyone up."

"But, Bryan!" Les protests, "They hurt Jack!"

"They didn't hurt me, buddy." Jack says.

"Sure they did! They hurt your feelings!"

"That doesn't mean that you should beat them up." Specs says. Romeo and Albert nod sagely.

Katherine clears her throat, and everyone jumps.

"Where the fuck did you come from?" Spot asks. Bryan glares at him. "Sorry, Bryan."

"Spare key." Katherine says.

"Oh."

"Okay, here's my plan. I'm going to find out where Morris and Oscar work, and then I'll tell their boss that they're homophobic."

"Hell yeah!" Albert praises, "This is why Kath is in possession of all of the braincells."

"Spot has braincells too!" Race protests, and Spot laughs, ruffling Race's hair.

"Jacky," Davey says, "Do you need to do a grounding exercise?"

"Uh, yeah, that would be great. Thanks, Dave."

"Five things you can see?"

"Coffee mugs, extra aprons, um. Boxes of coffee beans in the storage closet, extra packets of sugar, and uh, my phone."

"Four things you can feel?"

"Cold air from the vent, my back against the wall, my phone case, and uh. The friendship bracelet that Les made me on my wrist."

Les gasps. "You still have it!"

"Of course I do, bud! You're my best friend, after all."

Davey grins. He loves that Jack and Les are so close.

"Okay Jack," Davey continues, "Three things you can hear?"

"Someone ordering a frappucino, the sound of the bean grinder, and..."

A crash.

"Someone just dropped a plate."

"Two things you can smell?"

"Coffee. So much coffee. And that stupid peppermint candle that my boss loves."

"You're doing great, sweetheart, just tell me one thing that you can taste."

"Cinnamon gum."

"Ew." Spot says. Race shoves him.

"You know I like cinnamon gum!" Race says.

"You have horrible taste in gum."

"I hate you."

Bryan sighs. "Romeo, Les, you're going to be late to school. Spot, can you drive them?"

"Of course."

"Good. The rest of you, go sit in the living room. We're going to read Macbeth act two today."

"Can I be Lady Macbeth?" Crutchie asks.

"Sure."

Homeschooling the boys has never been easy. Romeo and Les are the only ones who go to school. Romeo because he's too advanced for homeschooling and because he wants to flirt with the cute girl in his forensics class. Les goes because his parents want him to. Sarah and Davey graduated high school last year, and they're both taking a gap year.

Medda teaches the boys about classic plays at her theater, and Bryan agreed that discussing plays was a good way to get the boys interested in English. Katherine often helps Bryan teach the boys English. Sarah and Davey help teach math and science, and Jack does fine art. It's quite haphazard, but it works.

"I wanted to be Lady Macbeth!" Race complains. 

"You can be Lady Macbeth tomorrow."

Race sighs, accepting his fate as Banquo, and they all crowd into the living room to start the class.


	2. matchmaker matchmaker make me a match

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> da homies decide to try to set bryan up with medda   
> but bryan is gay  
> they dont know  
> also bryan falls in love with some guy at a coffee shop  
> chaos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the sweater vest is a reference to The Torrid Affair of Jack Kelly and Kosher Dave from Manhattan by waitingformy.  
> also this is mostly dialogue i am sorry  
> writing is hard

“Denton?” Les asks. He and Crutchie are sitting on the couch, watching Craig of the Creek (author’s note: you should watch it, it’s really good). It’s the weekend, and all of the other boys are out, some of them at work, but most of them at Medda’s. Both Les and Crutchie haven’t gotten out of their Spiderman pajamas. It’s almost noon.

“Yes?” Bryan responds, looking up from the ham and cheese sandwiches he’s making (they’re for Les and Crutchie. Les likes his cut into triangles, and Crutchie only eats sandwiches if they’re cut vertically down the middle). 

“Why don’t you have a girlfriend yet?” Les aks. Bryan chokes on nothing, sputtering.

“Well, I suppose it’s because…” he trails off, unable to think of an answer.

“Do you not like girls or something?”

“Um.”

“Because I don’t think I like girls as much as boys. I think they’re pretty and funny and nice, but boys are better because they’re more fun.” Les says matter-of-factly, as if he didn’t basically come out.

“I...Well, yes, that’s why I don’t have a girlfriend.” Bryan answers, trying to seem nonchalant. He goes back to cutting the sandwiches, and the conversation is over just as quickly as it started.

Jack and Race walk into the kitchen, grocery bags in hand.

“Oh, good,” Bryan says, gesturing at the bags, “You got groceries. Did you remember to get pads for the girls and Hot Shot? Last time I checked, there were none in the bathroom.”

“Aw, shit, we forgot!” Race says.

“I heard that!” Crutchie shouts from the couch.

“I can go back and get them,” Race says, and he’s out the door in a flash. Les gets up and runs to Jack, holding his hand out. Jack sighs, and passes Les a five-dollar bill.

“What bet did you make this time, Les?” Bryan asks, noticing the exchange.

“He bet Jack five dollars that he and Race would forget to buy something today.” Crutchie answers, and Les grins, running to his bag and putting the bill in a plastic container full of bills and coins.

“What are you even saving up all this money for?” Jack asks, sitting next to Crutchie on the couch.

“It’s a surprise!” Les answers, squeezing in between Crutchie and Jack on the couch.

The three boys sit in complete silence for a while, staring at the TV and watching intently. It’s Les’s favorite episode, “Doorway to Helen,” in which Craig finds out that alternate realities exist. They’ve watched this episode about a million times.

“So,” Jack says, bored of the episode by now, “What did you guys talk about this morning?”

“They were asking me why I don’t have a girlfriend.” Bryan answers.

“That’s a good question. You know, we should set you up with someone!”

“Thanks, Jack, but I don’t really-”

“What about Medda?” Jack asks, cutting Bryan off.

“What about her?”

“Why don’t you go on a date with her? You two get along fairly well, right?”

Bryan can’t believe that this is happening.

“I don’t think that I should-” he starts to say, but Jack cuts him off again.

“I’m sure she’d be happy to!” 

“Jack, I’m not going on a date with Medda.”

* * *

Bryan is getting ready for his date with Medda. They’re going to the cafe where Jack works, which Jake insisted on so he could “keep an eye on them.” Bryan feels wrong about this. It feels like he’s lying. But he’s not, right?

Right?

“Bryan! You ready to go?” Jack calls from the kitchen. Bryan heads to the door, putting his shoes on.

“That sweater vest is horrendous,” Jack says, “Go change.”

“It’s almost as bad as that one that Davey has.” Les says, and Jack nods. Bryan sighs, and changes into a dark blue polo.

“Better.” Les says approvingly.

They get to the cafe a few minutes late, and Bryan rushes to Medda’s table, apologizing profusely. She laughs.

“It’s alright, Bryan, I was almost late myself! It’s no big deal.” 

He thanks God that Medda is so understanding, and looks around the cafe. There’s a young woman working on her laptop, typing quickly and furiously, and it reminds Bryan of Kath. There’s a mother with what looks like seven, maybe eight, children surrounding her, all of them from the ages of around three to seven, and she looks exhausted. There’s an elderly couple sharing a cookie, and at the table next to them is a  _ very _ handsome man reading a book. Bryan’s heart skips a beat.

It takes a moment for him to realize that he’s staring. Medda smiles at him.

“He sure is handsome, huh?” she asks, and Bryan nods without thinking.

“I mean, no! I mean, yes but…” he sputters, turning beet red.

“Anything you want to tell me, sugar?” Medda asks, smiling wider. It’s a smile that says that she knows, and that Bryan knows she knows, and that she knows that Bryan knows that she knows.

“Um. Well. Yes. I’m….I’m gay.” The last two words come out quietly. Medda grabs his hands, and looks directly into his eyes.

“I know. It’s alright. Why don’t you go and ask for that handsome guy’s number?”

“Oh, I couldn’t,” Bryan laughs, “I’m far too shy.” 

“Oh well, it was worth a shot.”

* * *

Bryan walks to Crutchie’s room, knocking on the door before opening it. Crutchie and Les are sitting on the floor, playing Candyland. 

“What’s up?” Les asks.

“I need to talk to you two.” Bryan says, and Crutchie’s eyes widen.

“Oh no, are we in trouble?”

“Whatever it is, I blame Jack.” Les says.

“You’re not in trouble, guys,” Bryan laughs, sitting down with them, “I need your help with something. Do you think you could bake me a cake?”

They jump up and rush to the kitchen.

A few hours later, after dinner, Les brings the cake out into the kitchen and puts it on the counter.

“Ooh, cake!” Specs says, clapping.

“What’s the occasion?” asks Spot.

“Yeah, did we forget someone’s birthday or something?” Alfred asks.

“No, there’s no special occasion. I just have something to tell you guys.” 

“What is it?” Race asks.

“Look at the cake!” Les exclaims excitedly. Everyone walks to the counter to peer at the cake. It has rainbow frosting, and on the top in big white letters, it says DENTON IS GAY.

Everyone is silent for a moment.

“Oh,” Race says, breaking the silence, “Me too.”

“Well, duh.” Jack says.

“Wait, what?” Race turns to him. “You knew?”

“Of course, you’ve had a crush on Spot forever!”

Race turns red, burying his face in his hands. Spot clears his throat.

“For the record,” he says to Race, “I had a crush on you.”

“Oh, thank god I’m not the only one who-” Race says, but he stops. “Wait,  _ had? _ Past tense?”

“Oof, rejected.” Sarah says. Davey shushes her.

“Remember when we had that huge fight and we didn’t talk to each other for a week? That’s when it stopped.”

“Ah. Makes sense.”

Spot nods, and then it’s silent again.

“I think Jack is pretty!” Les says, and everyone stares at him.

“Excuse me?” Davey asks. 

“Watch out, Dave!” Romeo says, “Les is gonna steal your man!”

Everyone starts talking, giving Davey warnings and clapping for Les.

“Jack, any comments?” Katherine asks.

Jack grins. “I’m flattered, Les, but I’m already madly in love with your brother.”

“That can change!” Les says hopefully, and Jack laughs. “I’ve decided that you’re in love with  _ me _ now.”

“Well then! Sorry, Davey, but we’re over.”

“Les, you should ask Jack if he wants to come over for dinner tomorrow night at our place!” Sarah says, grinning mischievously.

“You absolutely should not!” Davey says.

“Wow, meeting the family already?” Jack chuckles, “And it’s only our first date!”

“Al, you and Specs are totally a thing, right?” Romeo asks, and both of them look at him quizzically.

“No,” Specs says, “Why would you think that?”

“I don’t know, maybe because you hold hands and kiss each other on the cheek, and cuddle? That's couple behavior.”

“Unfortunately,” Alfred answers, “Both of us are extremely heterosexual.”

Everyone stares at him, clearly not buying it.

“No, really! What, you don’t cuddle your friends?”

Specs nods sagely. “Homies cuddle homies when needed.”

“You two really are something else.” Kath says.

“Cake time!” Crutchie shouts.

“I want a corner piece!” Race, Alfred, Romeo, Jack, Sarah, and Les all yell at the same time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love you  
> please go drink some water and eat food  
> also if ur reading this instead of paying attention in class/doing your homework you need to go do that  
> ok bye


	3. disaster dinners with a disaster bi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> there r flashbacks of previous dinners @ the jacobs  
> and then there's the one in the present  
> yeah  
> also its short  
> because i am lazy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY YOU! go eat, drink water, get to class/do ur homework  
> u can read fanfiction after u do those things

Before Jack and Davey were dating, Dave invited Jack to Thanksgiving dinner.

It was a mess. 

Everyone assumed that they were dating, even though they weren't, but Dave always got teased by Sarah and Les for never bringing a date to Thanksgiving, so they just...pretended that they were. At first, Jack had said no, but he did it in exchange for a whole pumpkin pie. When they were eating, Dave's family got into this huge argument because Dave's uncle was being homophobic and his mother was ready to throw hands. Sarah was yelling, Les was seven so he was crying, and Davey was having a full-blown panic attack while poor Jack was just trying to eat. And then, when Jack was asked about his family, things got...awkward. It wasn't that bad, because Mrs. Jacobs told him that he was welcome to be a part of their family. Jack felt...weird. Good weird. It was a very strange experience. 

The next time Jack had been over at the Jacobs place for dinner was for his birthday. Mrs. Jacobs told him to bring his friends, but she definitely wasn't prepared for the group of boys that Jack brought along. Race had broken a plate, and all of them were still "growing boys," so each of them ate around three servings. Thank God that Jack's friends are funny, because the dinner would've been hell if there wasn't a little humor. Jack had gotten a tiny bit wine-drunk, and he was flirting with Davey for a while. That was the day that they started dating for real.

The third time was Mr. and Mrs. Jacob's anniversary. Davey, Sarah, and Jack were cooking dinner as a surprise, and Les was...there. Jack is a terrible cook, and that was found out far too late.

"Oh God," Davey had sighed, slamming his head on the counter, "How are you even alive? Do you just...survive on cup noodles?"

Jack had nodded at that, and Davey groaned, grabbed him a cookbook, and demanded that he took it home so that he could learn to make a real meal. It didn't help. The cookbook is really good though, and Race is a good cook, so dinners at Denton's are excellent. 

Les and Jack got into a tiny food fight, and Sarah had almost died laughing when they both ended up covered in food. "You're fun. I'm glad we're keeping you."

The dinner today is quiet, it's strange, and there's this...strange tension in the air. Les is going on and on about his favorite teacher, and Jack is listening intently. He's trying to ignore the dirty looks that Dave and Sarah are exchanging. He looks at Les, jerking his head towards Sarah and Dave, clearly trying to ask "what's up with them?" Les just shrugs. Sarah doesn't speak until dessert is on the table. 

"Jack," she says, "You picked the wrong twin."

And she leaves.

"Uh. What exactly is going on?" Jack asks, and Davey doesn't answer. Les rolls his eyes.

"Is this still about the Starbursts?" he asks. Jack looks at him quizzically. "They got into a fight because Sarah thinks that the yellow Starbursts are better and then her yellow Starbursts went missing and she blamed Davey."

"It wasn't me!" Davey finally says, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Yeah, I know," Jack says, "It was totally Katherine."

"What?"

"She was over here the other day, right?" Dave nods. "Yeah, apparently Sarah stole all of the good Skittles so Katherine stole her Starbursts as payback."

"WHAT?" Sarah shouts from her room, running into the dining room. "It was Kath?"

"Yep."

"Wow, I'm never going to the movies with her ever again."

"You guys go on movie dates?"

"They're not dates! We're just friends."

"That's what they all say."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk man tell me if u liked it


	4. a series of suspicious things that hot shot has said

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW FOR MENTIONS OF M*RDER, BL**D, AND DEATH

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was inspired by a tiktok that i saw

"I need help with my forensics homework." Romeo says, leaning on the kitchen counter.

"Oh, I can totally help you with that!" Hot Shot says, and Jack looks at him.

"Why do you know so much about murder, Hot Shot?" he asks.

"I um..listen to a lot of true crime?" Hot Shot answers, "Let's get started on that homework, shall we?"

The homework is this worksheet with observations about the victim's corpse.

"Ok, so when a person dies, the body immediately begins to cool. On average, the body temperature drops at a rate of 0.75°C per hour for the first 12 hours. After 12 hours, the rate of cooling slows by about one half, which is approximately 0.4 degrees C per hour, until the body reaches ambient temperature, the temperature of the environment. The temperature of the body is also influenced by clothing, which insulates it, air temperature, body fat, and water."

"Why do you know this?" Jack asks again, more seriously this time.

"It says here that the victim's body was stiff," Hot Shot goes on, ignoring Jack, "At the time of death, the body muscles are relaxed. Within one to two hours, the muscles begin to stiffen. It starts at the the muscles of the face, jaws, and neck, proceeds down the body through the upper arms and torso, and ends with the legs. It's called 'rigor mortis' and it is completed eight to twelve hours after death. After twenty-four to twenty eight hours, the body relaxes again."

"Ok, it also says that there were purplish marks on her neck," Romeo says, not at all phased by the fact that Hot Shot knows this stuff, "And the marks didn't change color when touched."

"That's liver mortis. The color becomes fixed in the tissue within 6-8 hours after death. If a body is moved after this time, then the position of the purplish marks may not agree with the position in which the body is found. Was there a film on the victim's eyes?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Okay, so, based on all of this, we can assume that the victim died eight to ten ago. And ten hours ago, it said that she was with her sister, so we can assume that her sister killed her."

"Rad, thanks!"

"No problem."

* * *

"This show is so unrealistic," Davey says a few weeks after the forensics homework incident. He, Jack, Spot, Race, and Hot Shot are all sitting in the living room, slung over various pieces of furniture.

"I agree," Race says, "Like, can chlorine even dissolve a body that quickly?"

Hot Shot scoffs. "No." His answer came out a little too quickly. Everyone stares at him.  "Could you ask me that again so I can answer a little slower?"

"Can chlorine even dissolve a body that quickly, Hot Shot?" Race asks, sounding extremely suspicious.

Hot Shot takes a very long time to answer. "No."

"I swear to God," Jack says, "I'm calling the cops on you the next time that you say something suspicious."

"No, not the pigs!" Hot Shot says dramatically.

* * *

A week later, Hot Shot shows up at Denton's apartment looking like a mess. There's blood on his chin, but as far as anyone can tell, he's not bleeding. Which means that it's _someone else's blood._  


Jack takes one look and grabs his phone. "Yeah, that's it, I'm calling the police."

"Jack, seriously," Spot says, snatching Jack's phone away, "Leave the poor boy alone."

"You look like shit." Les says, and Bryan glares at him. "Sorry, Bryan."

"What the hell happened to you?" Specs asks.

Hot Shot mumbles something, too quiet for anyone to hear. 

"You can tell me," Race says, and Hot Shot says something in Italian.

"The Delanceys did **what**?" Spot says, outraged, and Race looks at him, suprised.

"Since when do you know Italian?" he asks Spot, and Spot waves him off.

"What'd they do this time?" Crutchie asks.

"Uh, they were sayin' that I'm 'not a real boy' and..." Hot Shot's voice breaks.

"I'll beat their asses." Specs says.

"I already did, and my uncle Rocco says that he'll get the rest of the family to go after them. It's not a big deal, they do this all the time."

Everyone stares at him.

"Dude," Jack says, "Seriously, is your family part of the Mafia?"

"I plead the fifth."

"So yes."

"I plead the fifth."

"That's an answer."

"No it's not!"

"So your family doesn't work for the Mafia?" asks Davey.

"No comment."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> stink if ur reading this pay attention in class


	5. vicks vaporub is spot's religion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> race gets sick (because he's a dumbass) and spot has to take care of him  
> tw for vom*t

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi hello howdy

Spot wakes up to five missed calls from Race.

 _Shit,_ he thinks, and he calls back.

"I'm so sorry," he says, "I was asleep and-"

"It's okay, Spottie. I was just kinda...well. I forgot my key card? So I couldn't get in? And uh...it's snowing pretty hard outside so..."

"Tony," Spot says, raising his voice just a little, "Please tell me you wore a jacket."

"Um. Does a sweatshirt count?"

" _Antonio!"_

"Sorry."

Spot sighs. "It's fine. Where are you right now?"

"Starbucks right down the block."

"Jack will kill you if he finds out that you were at Starbucks." Jack is one of those snobby coffee drinkers who thinks that only cafes that aren't part of a chain can have good coffee. It's fucking annoying.

"Jesus, Tony," Spot says as he walks into the Starbucks, "You look freezing." Race's nose is red, his fingertips are slighty blue, and there's still snow in his hair. 

"I would've bought a hot chocolate, but I forgot my wallet." Race says sheepishly. Spot rolls his eyes.

"Starbucks hot coffee is shitty anyway," he says, wrapping the extra scarf he brought around Race's neck. He hands Race a coat, a hat, and mittens. Race takes them gratefully.

* * *

"Spot!" Race calls from his room, "I think I'm sick."

"Of course you are, dumbass. You went out in the snow with _just a sweatshirt on._ "

"Do I look as bad as I feel?"

"Yes. Probably worse."

Spot is a fucking simp. He _really_ doesn't want to, but when Race begs him to make a blanket fort, he can't say no. When Race asks for a second, and then a third, and then a _fourth_ cup of hot chocolate, Spot can't say no. When Race tells Spot that he wants to watch Cinderella 3 (Race's favorite movie) instead of Ratatouille (Spot's favorite movie), Spot can't say no.

He's fucking whipped, and he's not even dating the guy.

When Race complains of a stuffy nose, a container of Vick's VapoRub seems to materialize in Spot's hand.

"Where the fuck did that come from?" Race asks.

"Take your shirt off." Spot says, and Race giggles.

"You're not even gonna take me to dinner first?"

Spot sighs, rubbing the Vicks on Race's back and chest. "Whatever happened to your 'perfect immune system', huh?"

Race gets up suddenly, and in a flash, he's in the bathroom, throwing up.

"Oh god," Spot says, "I guess you somehow contracted a stomach bug too."

He sits down on the bathroom floor and rubs circles into Race's back.

"Fuck." Race says when he's finally done. 

"I'm forcing you to take a nap now." Spot holds his hand out. Race takes it, and lets Spot lead him to the bed.

He's asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow.

* * *

Race opens his eyes and groans. The light is too bright. Everything is too bright. Everything is loud. 

Spot wakes up next to him, and Race gestures at the light, hoping that Spot will understand what he's trying to say.

Spot nods and turns off the overhead light. He lights a candle (Race's favorite, the one that smells like Christmas cookies). "Think you can hold down some water?"

Race nods.

He cannot, in fact, hold down some water. He throws up again, Spot rubbing circles into his back and whispering "it's okay, everything's gonna be okay."

They go back to the blanket fort after Spot calls Jack. He, Davey, and Sarah will be over soon.

Sarah practically kicks down the door. She's got a can of chicken noodle soup, four containers of Vick's VapoRub, five boxes of tissues, and a Home Depot bucket for Race to throw up in.

"See?" Spot says, pointing at the Vicks, "It saves lives!"

"Whatever you say, Spottie." Race coughs, and Davey throws a bag of cough drops at him.

About an hour later, the rest of the boys come home. They all pile into the blanket fort to hug Race, not even caring that they might get sick.

* * *

Denton comes home at six thirty that evening and finds a pile of boys (and Kath and Sarah) all curled up in the blanket fort. He smiles to himself as he goes to get a comforter and some extra blankets from the linen closet. He places the blanket over them and turns off the TV.

Race stirs, and he whispers "sorry for getting sick." Bryan waves him off. 

Race falls back asleep, and the only thing he can seem to dream about is Spot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> stink does their homework challenge 2k20


	6. K-I-S-S-I-N-G

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bryan is in love and theres nothing u can do about it  
> also spot and race are being dumbasses about their feelings  
> and kath and sara r in love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha gay

"Hey, Dave," Race says, walking right past him as he walks into the Jacobses (AN: Jacobs's? Grammar is hard).

"Well, come on in then." Davey mutters.

"Sorry," Race says, smiling, "I just have to talk to Saz about something."

"Oh. Well she's in her room, I think."

Race opens the door to Sarah's bedroom, and says, "Hey Saz, I needed to ask you about-"

But then he sees Katherine. Kissing Sarah. On the mouth.

Oh.

Sarah breaks away from the kiss and jumps when she sees Race.

"Fuck!" she says, "It's not what it looks like."

"So what you're saying is that you _weren't_ just making out with Kath?"

"Uh. It's...exactly what it looks like."

Katherine laughs.

"So, how long has this been a thing?"

"Didn't you have something to ask me?" Sarah asks, dismissing his question. Race laughs.

"It's kind of...personal." Kath takes the hint and kisses Sarah's forehead on her way out.

"It's about Spot, isn't it?" Sarah whispers.

Race looks at her.

She looks at Race.

"No." he says, you know, like a liar. And he gets up to leave.

"Just tell him how you feel! The worst he can say is no!" she shouts after him.

* * *

Bryan stops in at the coffee shop to check on Jack.

The cute guy is back.

Oh no.

"Hey, Bryan!" Jack grins. 

Bryan walks over to his favorite seat, by the window, and Jack walks over.

"So," Jack sits down. "Staring at Hugh again, huh?"

"Who's Hugh?"

"Cute guy that you're in love with? The one right near the door in the green shirt."

Shit. 

Jack is infuriatingly observant.

"Talk to him!" Jack says, rolling his eyes at Bryan. Bryan shakes his head.

"I can't."

"I'll do it for you, then."

"You absolutely will not."

But Jack is already walking over to the guy- _Hugh_ and striking up a conversation. Bryan leaves, embarrassed that Jack has to talk to people for him.

At dinner, he gets a text.

_Hi, this is Hugh. From the cafe? Your son gave me your number_

"Jack."

"Yes?" Jack asks, looking up from his mashed potatoes.

"Did you give Hugh my number?"

"Oooh! He texted? What'd he say?"

"He said that 'my son' gave him my number."

"Bryan. I literally live in your apartment. I'm your son at this point."

"Fair."

Bryan takes about ten minutes to text Hugh back, because all the boys are debating what he should reply with.

**_Hi, Hugh, I'm Bryan._ **

**_I don't really know how to ask this, but are you free Friday night at five to nine pm?_ **

_I don't have anything planned_

**_Well, I know this really great Italian restaurant_ **

Bryan texts Hugh the address, and Hugh agrees to go on the date with him.

"Holy shit." Bryan says, and the boys stare at him.

"I heard that!" Crutchie shouts from the living room.

* * *

That night, Spot and Race are sitting on the floor of the living room, watching a movie. Everyone else is asleep.

Race sighs.

"Something wrong?" Spot asks.

"I have to tell you something."

Spot raises his eyebrows. "What is it, Racer? You gonna confess your undying love for me?" He teases.

"Yeah," Race says, "That's the plan."

And they sit there, in complete silence.

"Can I kiss you?" Spot asks. Race nods.

And they kiss.

"Was that good?" Race asks.

"Have you never kissed anyone before?"

"No." 

"Yes, Tony. It was a good kiss."

"Maybe we should do it again. Y'know, for...scientific purposes."

Spot laughs. Race is incredibly hilarious, even when he's not trying.

"Yes, because that's how science stuff works."

"Do I look like a scientist to you?"

"Jesus, Racer," Spot says, leaning in so that their lips are just a breath apart, "You can just kiss me again."

And that's exactly what Race does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> stink go do ur homework  
> also yes john mulaney reference


	7. hot shot is our lord and savior

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SPOT IS DUMB  
> but i love him <3  
> basically spot & race r being dumbasses about their feelings  
> and hot shot saves them

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for a little panic attack in this chapter  
> also straighten your back, go eat & drink water  
> this one is short because!!!!!!! writer's block is a bitch!!!!!!!!!!!

"So," Hot Shot says, moving a pink ballgown-esque dress to a clothing rack, "What's up with you and Tony?"

Spot chokes on his coffee.

He and Hot Shot are in the costume room of the theater, helping organize the costumes. Medda's paying them 10 bucks an hour for this (even though they'd do it for free).

"Nothin'." Spot lies.

Hot Shot looks at him, unconvinced.

"Fine," Spot sighs, "I kissed him."

"Fuckin' finally!"

"We're just friends still, apparently."

"Did he say that?"

"No, but it sure was implied."

Spot's phone rings. It's Race. 

"Speak of the fuckin' devil, I guess." Spot hits answer. Race starts talking immediately after he picks up, his words blurring together. Spot interrupts him. "Tony, I can't understand you. You're talkin' too fast."

"Sorry!" Race says, taking a deep breath, "What I'm trying to say is that I think I'm having a panic attack? And I don't know why? I cried because I couldn't find a pen and I feel like an idiot and I really didn't want to bother you but-"

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

Race can't control his breathing. He's breathing too quickly, and he's barely exhaling. It physically pains Spot to see him like this.

The first time Race had a panic attack was when they were twelve. He had a bad run-in with the Delanceys (AN: fuck them they suck, most of this fic is gonna be Morris & Oscar slander). Spot had gotten his nickname then. Race had finally calmed down, and he looked at Spot's freckles and said "Y'know, I like those spots on your face." Spot had teased him relentlessly for forgetting the word "freckles," but the nickname stuck.

"It's okay," Spot says, "Just breathe." He takes a few deep breaths before Race calms down and starts breathing with him. "Better?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Spotty."

"Anytime."

Race looks at the floor like it's the most interesting thing he's seen ever. "Do you maybe want to, uh...hang out later today?"

"I mean, I'm free now."

"Oh. Sure, yeah, let's uh...go get fries or something."

Oh, shit.

Whenever Race _really_ likes someone, when his crush is super intense, he buys them fries. Spot considers, for a moment, that Race might feel something serious about him. But then a voice in his head says something along the lines of _get a grip, Sean, he's too good for you._ _They're just fries, it doesn't mean anything._

* * *

The fries are fucking excellent. They're the kind that are a bit crispy-ish on the outside and warm and soft on the inside. After he's done with his fries, Race kisses Spot. Hard.

"Oh." Spot says when Race pulls away from the kiss, his voice sounding a million miles away. Race rests his head on Spot's shoulder. They sit there like that for a long time, not saying anything. Race realizes after a few minutes that Spot is holding his hand. He smiles softly.

"God, Racer," Spot finally says, breaking the silence, "You're gonna kill me when you end this thing we have."

Race shifts, pulling away from Spot, surprised. "Who says it has to end?"

Spot laughs (AN: like one of those little "ha-ha"'s when you don't realize that someone is being serious). "I mean, clearly this is just like, a friends-with-benefits situation, right?"

Race stands up, incredulous. "What?"

"I mean, you don't actually _like_ me, do you?"

"Jesus Christ, Sean! I kissed you! I took you out on a fucking date! I...I bought you _fries!_ "

Spot stares at him. "I didn't think-"

"Yeah, you sure didn't. What, do _you_ not like me?"

"Tony, don't be stupid."

"Oh, so I'm _stupid_ now?"

"I didn't mean it like that and you know it."

Race groans, throwing his hands up in the air. "You didn't mean it like that, sure. Yeah. That's believable. Listen, I know that everyone thinks I'm stupid, but you've always said that I'm not. I guess you were lying." He gets up and walks away.

"Tony, wait," Spot says, going after him, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it..." He grabs Race's wrist in a last-ditch attempt to stop him, but Race pulls away.

"Fuck off." he says, and then he's going, going, gone.

* * *

Spot has barely moved in days. He's been staying at Hot Shot's, too embarrassed to be in the same room as Race. 

"Jesus, Spot," Hot Shot sighs. "Just fuckin' talk to him."

"Can't," Spot says, shoving his face into a throw pillow, "Too scared."

Hot Shot's mom yells that dinner's ready, and Spot can hear the sound of all eight of Hot Shot's siblings running to the kitchen. 

"Be there in a minute, Ma!" Hot Shot shouts back. "Spot. Talk to him. It's probably killing him, and it's definitely killing you."

"I know, but-"

" _Talk to him._ Or I'll do it for you."

"Would ya?"

Hot Shot sighs. He wants to say no, but he knows he can't. 

"Yeah, I'll talk to him for you."

It's been a week, and Hot Shot is sick of playing carrier pigeon. 

"This is stupid."

Spot looks up from _The Scarlet Letter_. "What's stupid?"

"You."

"Aw, fuck off," Spot says, throwing the book at him. "You're stupid."

Hot Shot glares at him. "You are so lucky that's a paperback."

"And what if it wasn't? What would you do, send your mob boss uncle after me?"

"Yeah, probably. My point is, this is getting you nowhere. You need to talk to him."

"I'll consider it."

* * *

Spot does not, in fact, talk to Race. He avoids him, spending most days hanging out at Hot Shot's or going to the movies with Specs. It's a pretty good routine he's got going on, in his opinion. Just ignore Race for a while, the whole thing will blow over, and things can go back to the way they were.

But Race, of course, has to fuck his plan up.

"Hey," he says, walking into the kitchen, "You're up early."

"Couldn't sleep."

"Ah."

"Yeah."

Radio silence.

"I need to talk to you," Race says, "Look. I really like you, okay? And I'm sorry for getting upset. It's just that I've liked you forever, and I thought that maybe we could be...I dunno, boyfriends? Or something? But it's obvious that you don't feel that way, so. Just give me like, two weeks? And I can get over my feelings and we can go back to being friends and-"

Spot kisses him.

"You're stupid."

"I know. Does that mean that you-"

"Yes, Racer," Spot says, kissing Race's cheek, "I want to be your boyfriend."

"Fuckin' finally!" Jack shouts from his room.

"Fuck off!" Spot and Race say in unison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> stink does their homework challenge 2020


	8. tell me, everybody's pickin' up on that feline beat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fluff. it's fluff.  
> go listen to ev'rybody wants to be a cat or else

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one is short because i am lazy  
> i hope u like it

When Spot gets home on a Friday afternoon, the first thing he's greeted with is a meow. At first, he doesn't think anything of it, he just bends down to pet the cat and places his stuff on the counter. But after a minute, it clicks.

"Tony!" he shouts, and Race runs into the room. "Since when do we have a cat?"

"Oh, we don't have a cat." Jack says. 

"Then what's this?" Spot asks, picking the cat up off the floor and shoving it in his direction.

"It's a cat." Race answers.

"Exactly. So my question is, since when do we have a cat?"

"We don't have a cat..." Race says. "...We have three."

Spot slams his head into the counter. "Does Bryan know that you bought _three_ cats?"

"We didn't buy 'em!" says Race. "We found them wandering around."

"Does Bryan know that you _stole_ three cats?"

"Um. Don't tell him." 

Jack joins them at the counter. "What are we gonna name 'em?"

Race points at the Maine Coon, grinning. "That one should be Fluffy."

"We're not naming our cat Fluffy," Spot says. "That's basic."

"One, she _is_ fluffy." Jack argues. "And two, _our_ cat? I thought you didn't want them."

"I never said that. We're gonna name her...Juliet."

"Okay, what about the other ones?"

Spot points to the orange tabby. "Tybalt." Then he points to the british shorthair. "Mercutio."

"You need to stop re-reading Shakespeare." Race says, kissing Spot's cheek.

"It's Romeo's fault!" 

Race giggles, and Spot kisses him (just to shut him up). Jack gags, but they don't care. Race moves to sit on Spot's lap, facing him. Spot takes Race's face in his hands and kisses his nose. Jack groans.

"You two have a bedroom, you know."

Race whips his head to face Jack. "That's an excellent suggestion, actually." He stands up, offering his hand to Spot, who takes it. "Shall we?" The two of them walk to the bedroom, giggling like schoolgirls. 

Race leans down to kiss Spot, grabbing his hips to pull him closer. Spot makes a noise that could, quite possibly, be a moan (not that he'd ever admit it. He doesn't think Race noticed). Spot's hands fly up to Race's hair, and Race tightens his grip on Spot's hips. The kiss goes on for some time, and when they finally break away, they're both out of breath and flushed. Race flops down on the bottom bunk, sighing blissfully. He can't believe that they were standing that whole time. Spot lies down next to him, propping himself up on his elbow so that he's looking down at Race. He kisses the tip of Race's nose. 

Juliet slips through the door, which had been left ajar. "Jesus," Spot says, "I had almost convinced myself that I hallucinated those goddamn cats."

"Aw, but they're so cute!" Race says, picking Juliet up and putting her in Spot's lap. "Not as cute as you, though."

Spot sputters. "I am not cute."

"Sure you are!" Race says, booping his nose. Spot hisses. "Awww, so cute!"

Spot shoves Race, and Race shoves back, and their little shoving match quickly divulges into a tickle fight. "I surrender!" Race giggles. 

"Good." Spot says as Race curls into his lap. Spot rests his chin on Race's head. "Your hair is soft." 

Race takes Spot's hand and kisses it. "Spot?"

"Yeah?"

"Just...tell me if you ever get sick of me, all right?"

"I could never get sick of you, sweetheart."

Race is silent. 

"Race?" Spot says, moving so he can see Race's face. Race looks away. "Awww, you're blushing. Jesus, flustered much?"

"Shut up." 

"Make me."

Race is about to do just that when they hear a loud shout from the kitchen. It's Bryan.

"Where did these cats come from?"

Race laughs. "Oh, shit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> stink go do ur homework


	9. denton goes on a date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> omg a chapter about denton in a fic that was supposed to be denton-centric? shocking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes the first line is stolen from red white and royal blue shut the fuck up

Bryan is. Well. Bryan is losing his mind. 

His date with Hugh is at four, and it's 3:30 already. Bryan is barely ready.

"Good golly, would you look at the time!" Race says in a horrible British accent.

"You're going to be late, Bryan." Jack says. Bryan gives him a panicked look that says _I know, and I'm seriously reconsidering going on this date._ Jack rolls his eyes. "You're goin' on this date. It would crush his heart if he got stood up."

Bryan sighs. He hates when Jack is right.

"Your outfit is making me sad," Romeo says, "That sweater vest is horrible. Go put on the lilac one."

"No, that one is ugly," Specs says, "I like the green one."

"Jesus," Spot groans, "How many goddamn sweater vests do you own?"

"Only five." Bryan answers. 

"That's five too many." 

"It's almost four forty!" Crutchie shouts. 

"You're gonna be late!" everyone shouts, and Bryan finally leaves.

Bryan is late.

"Sorry," he says as he sits down at the table, "The boys made me change about ten times."

"Your kids?" Hugh asks.

"Kind of. They're, um. Well, most of them are orphans, or have family issues, so I kind of took them under my wing."

Hugh smiles. "That's very kind of you."

"Well, it was the least I could do."

"How many are there?"

Bryan has to count on his fingers. It's ridiculous. "Seven live with me, and then there's their friends, which add up to, what, ten? No, twelve."

"Oh, wow."

"They've been dying to meet you."

"Oh, you've been talking about me?"

"Um."

Bryan looks away, embarrassed, and then he sees them. Jack and Spot, a few tables over. He groans. "There are two of them, right there." He points at them, and Hugh smiles at them, waving them over.

"Wow, fancy seeing you here." Jack says.

"How's it going so far?" Spot asks. "You haven't scared him off by telling him that you're basically the father of seven kids, have you?"

"I'm hardly scared off," Hugh says, "You seem nice."

" _I'm_ nice. Spot is a bitch."

"Jack! No cursing." Bryan admonishes, and Jack looks away sheepishly. 

Bryan's phone rings. "Sorry, excuse me for a second?" Hugh nods.

Jack sits across from him. "So. Basically. This may seem harsh, but if you break his heart, we will literally murder you."

Hugh blinks, surprised, but he recovers quickly. "Noted."

"Great. So, tell us about yourself."

"What do you want to know?"

"Ever been married?"

"No."

"Ever been engaged?"

"Nope."

"Ya got kids?"

"No."

Spot sighs. "Jack, stop grilling the poor man."

Bryan is back at the table. "Unfortunately, we have to go. I'm so sorry, but there's kind of an emergency."

"I completely understand!" Hugh says as Spot and Jack follow Bryan out. Jack gives Hugh a two-finger salute, and Bryan waves goodbye.

"What exactly is the emergency?" Spot asks.

"Um. There's not really anything that important, actually. I just..."

"Didja not like him or something?"

"No! I like him a lot, I'm just nervous."

"You're an idiot."

"So what you're going to do," Jack says, "Is invite him over to dinner. With us."

"Absolutely not."

"Absolutely yes!" Spot says. "That's like, the first time that Jack has ever had a good idea."

"Tomorrow should work, because Al, Specs, and Crutchie won't be there, and they're the most annoying."

"Fair point."

"Also, Sarah and Davey are coming over, so they'll balance out our chaos."

"Fine," Bryan sighs, "I'll invite him over for dinner."

* * *

Inviting Hugh over for dinner was a horrible idea. 

It's loud, and there's a couple of small food fights between Romeo and Jack, and Sarah chokes on her salad, and Hugh makes the mistake of calling Spot short, so Spot practically beats him up.

"Boys!" Bryan shouts after a fight almost breaks out, "Please stop embarrassing me."

"Sorry, Bryan!" they all say. 

"You have nothing to be embarrassed about, really!" Hugh says, "I like them a lot, actually."

"Oh no, he likes us!" Romeo says, "He's insane!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> stink go do ur homework


	10. pain is temporary, swag is forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> very short because i just wanted to write so  
> i can't decide whether or not the things discussed in this chapter are gonna set up a side plot or not so yeah  
> i stole some of the funnies from memes so yeah  
> TW for panic attacks and discussion of past trauma

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OVER 300 HITS?????? THANK YOU I LOVE ALL OF YOU  
> kudos would be appreciated but if u dont want to thats cool  
> this chapter contains a link to the best playlist ever  
> anyway love u and uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeah bye

At one in the morning, Spot wakes up to the sound of crying. "Race? You okay?"

"Yeah," Race sniffles, "I'm good."

Spot rolls his eyes and climbs up the little ladder to get to the top bunk. "What's wrong?"

"It wasn't a big deal, just a stupid nightmare about my mom."

"Shit, Race, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I'm okay."

Spot hugs him. "You're all right, I'm here, you're safe."

Race nods.

Race's mom wasn't...the best person. She was super emotionally abusive, and Race is still recovering from it. As if that wasn't bad enough, both of his parents just kind of...disappeared one day. He doesn't talk about it, and no one really asks about it anymore. He was only eleven when his parents left, and that's what makes him so angry. He was just a _kid._ And they _left._ He doesn't even know if they're dead or what, which sucks because he deserves to know, right? He falls asleep, Spot still hugging him tightly.

The next morning, Race seems completely out of it. He seems happy, yes, but it's too much. It seems forced. Spot notices right away, and when he asks Race what's wrong, he says "nothing. Why would anything be wrong?"

"Dude, you were crying at one in the morning."

"Yeah, and? Everyone has shitty moments, right?"

Spot frowns.

"Anyway, as I always say, [pain is temporary, swag is forever.](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3IXB0aDZJEmjEveKwNlkj7) Nothing can hurt me if the garb goes hard enough."

"What the fuck," Specs asks, "Is 'garb?'"

"Like...drip? Like 'wow what a great fit!'"

Everyone stares at him.

Spot's frown gets deeper. Race pokes his cheek. "What's wrong, Spotty? Sad that my sketchers light up and yours don't?"

Spot rolls his eyes. _He sure rolls his eyes a lot_ _,_ Race thinks.

* * *

Race has another nightmare the next night, and he wakes up screaming. Spot is by his side in a second.

"I'm sorry," Race sobs, "I didn't mean to-"

"It's not your fault," Spot whispers, kissing his forehead, "Nothing is your fault."

"I feel like shit, Spot."

"That's completely understandable, sweetheart."

Race looks up at him. "Sweetheart?"

"Shut up."

"No, it's fine," Race says, wiping his tears on the comforter, "It was just...unexpected." He's blushing, and Spot notices.

"Yeah, I'm gonna call you pet names all the time now."

"Oh, fuck off." Race laughs.

"Feelin' better?" 

"Yeah." Race kisses him and yawns.

"You wanna go back to sleep?"

"Not really," Race says, "I'm scared that I'll have another nightmare."

"Okay, so let's watch Cinderella 3," Spot says, and Race giggles. "What? I know it's your favorite."

"You know me so well."

"Shut up."

So they watch Cinderella 3, and then they watch it two more times. Spot falls asleep before Race can beg him to replay it again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm not gonna tell stink to do their homework cuz it's friday so  
> but like, go drink water and eat


	11. a very short chapter about bryan being tired

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is one scene and i was too tired to write more

"How am I supposed to take care of seven of you and three cats?" Bryan asks. Everyone shrugs. 

"Most of us are old enough to take care of ourselves," Jack answers, "Plus, technically they're Race's cats."

"Motherfucker, you called them your children like ten minutes ago!" Race shouts.

"That doesn't fuckin' count! You're the one who brought the goddamn things home!"

Bryan looks very, very tired.

Romeo clears his throat. "Specs, Al, Crutchie and I have come to the conclusion that if you get rid of them, we riot." The others nod. "I, personally, have grown attached to them."

"Yeah, cuz you're a fuckin' theater nerd," Jack grumbles, "And they're named after Romeo and Juliet characters."

"Spot was the one who named 'em!" 

Spot throws his hands up in surrender. "You were the one who made me listen to 'Io Tremo' from Romeo et Juliette for a full week!"

"Do you guys ever stop cursing?" Bryan asks. 

"Sorry, Bryan!" everyone (sans Crutchie) says. 

Juliet meows, and everyone turns to her. "See?" Race points. "Isn't she adorable."

"I think Mercutio is cuter," says Albert, "But Juliet is pretty cute."

"Tybalt is very obviously the cutest one." Specs argues. Bryan groans.

"Fine, we'll keep the cats." he says, and everyone cheers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, stink. go do your homework or else


	12. spring cleaning (in december)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the boys have to spruce up the apartment and it's, as always, chaotic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was based off of a prompt by tumblr user letsimagineotps! i think it's a really old prompt cuz i found a screenshot of it on pinterest, and it's on ifunny, so

"I swear to god, if you accidentally hit your thumb with that hammer, I will kill you." Spot says. Race is hanging up one of Jack's paintings on the living room wall, and Spot is convinced that he shouldn't trust Race with a hammer.

"I'm not gonna hit my thumb with the-" Race says, but he looks away for a split second and almost hits his thumb with the hammer. Spot rolls his eyes. 

"Here," he says, taking the hammer, "I'll do it."

"Just pound the nail into the wall," Race says. Spot is being super precise about where the nail is. "It's not that difficult."

"I'll pound you against the wall." Spot says without thinking. Race smirks just as Spot realizes what he said. "I didn't mean...fuck off."

He drops the nail.

"Oh, fuck me." he mutters.

Race giggles. "Right now?" Spot glares at him.

"That wasn't an invitation."

Race walks towards him anyway. Spot glares harder, but he's blushing furiously. 

"Hey, lovebirds!" Jack says from the other side of the room, "Everyone can hear you. Now, I know that it's hard to focus when you're madly in love but-"

A shoe barely misses him.

"Dude, did you just throw a shoe at me?"

"Yes," Spot answers, turning back to the wall, "Now shut up."

"Do you need me to pick you up so that you can put the next painting above this one?"

"Fuck off."

Race picks him up anyway, and Spot starts cursing up a storm. Race can't contain his laughter. "Awww, aren't you adorable?"

Mercutio swipes Race's legs with his sharp claws. Race screams, dropping Spot.

"Mercutio, you are my favorite cat." Spot says after he's picked himself off of the floor. Mercutio just stares at him.

* * *

"Hey, who moved my paint?" Jack shouts, leaning his head out of the door into the hallway. Everyone's heads pop out of their rooms.

"Wasn't me!" they all say. He frowns.

"I swear to god, this place is haunted." he says to Davey, who's _supposed_ to be helping him clean, but isn't doing it because "it isn't his room."

"It's not, Jack. You tend to move things and forget that you moved them."

"I do not!"

Davey raises an eyebrow at him. 

Jack sighs.

"Okay, fine, maybe I do."

"Not maybe."

"Okay fine, I do. Now help me organize my stuff."

Davey, surprisingly, does help. Jack finds it strange that people think that Dave is the mom friend. Jack feels like he's the one that watches over everyone, who makes dinner, makes them do their homework, etc. Sure, Dave pulls his weight, but at the end of the day, Jack is the mom of the group. But, then again, Jack does kinda let them get away with everything. And Davey is less...chaotic.

Jack comes to the conclusion that he's the dad friend.

"You alright?" Davey asks. "You're making animated facial expressions again."

"Oh. Yeah, I'm great, just thinkin'."

"Aren't you always?"

"Contrary to popular belief, no. Head empty, no thoughts, but also, internal screaming so loud that it echoes." 

Dave laughs and kisses Jack's forehead. "Better?"

Jack pretends to consider it for a moment. "You gotta do another one. Two kisses to make it better."

Dave laughs again, and kisses his forehead again. Jack's smile could light up New York.

"And you tell Spot and Race to stop flirting all the time," Romeo says, walking into the room with a broom and dustpan, "Very hypocritical, Jack."

"Fuck off."

* * *

Bryan is in love.

Hugh called this morning, wondering if Bryan would like to go to lunch today. When Bryan told him that it's cleaning day, he said: "Oh, can I come over? I'd love to help!" Bryan had said yes. 

When Hugh shows up at the door and Bryan lets him in, Crutchie looks very confused. "What's he doin' here?"

"He offered to help us clean."

"Ew, break up with him."

"Why would I do that?"

"What sort of psychopath offers to help _clean_?"

Bryan laughs.

Hugh is actually great at cleaning. He's relatively tall, which means that he can reach high places to dust. He's good at putting up with everyone's bullshit, too, which is a plus. Bryan was worried that the general bullshittery and shenanigans that the boys (mostly Race) get up to would scare Hugh off. But it doesn't, which is great. A barrage of questions is thrown at Hugh, and he answers every single one without fail. They're extremely personal questions, too, and Bryan has to intervene at least ten times to tell them to stop asking personal things. Everything is going smoothly when Hugh's hit with a very...loaded question.

"So are you in love with Bryan?"

Hugh blinks. "Well. We've only been together for a short time, and-"

"Do you love him? Yes or no question, Hugh."

"I. Um. I suppose."

Bryan almost faints, and everyone notices he's blushing, and he knows he doesn't have to say "I love you too."

Everything is happy, and wonderful, like they're in this happy little bubble.

But hey, every bubble's gotta pop. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am not sorry for the last sentence. the next chapter is gonna be a doozy, so be prepared  
> hi stink! go do your homework


	13. bubble: popped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HUGE TW! Basically everything is triggering. There's bl**d, s/h, panic attacks, and discussion of past abuse.  
> Please take care of yourself. Don't read this if it could potentially trigger you.

Jack doesn't know why he's crying. His brain is screaming, and there's just so much going on in his head. If anyone saw him, they wouldn't be able to tell. He looks sad, sure, but he's almost 100% sure that his outward appearance isn't conveying the fact that he feels like shit. Worse than that, actually. He feels like _nothing_. He's trying to stop it, and there's just _so much noise_ in his mind, and he just wants it all to go away. He wants his brain to shut up.

It's late at night, too late to go wake someone up and ask for help. He doesn't need help. Well, he does, but he doesn't want to ask for it. And the issue is that he doesn't know what he needs help with. He's trying to stay in the present, trying to focus on something, anything. _I'm in my room,_ he thinks, _I'm in my bed and I'm fine and I can hear cars passing by and I can hear someone snoring and there's nothing wrong_. But something is wrong, he knows it. There's a crash from outside. There's yelling. It's typical noise for a night in the city, and usually Jack would sleep right through it, but he's awake. He's so awake. 

The yelling gets louder. It's just some guy and his girlfriend arguing. It's nothing, a meaningless little fight. Jack is in the present. He's here. Except he's not. In his brain, he's taken back to a far worse place. 

_He's seven. His mom died a few months ago. He's at his second foster home. The Hoffmans. Mrs. Hoffman is shouting. Things are being thrown. The baby, Carole, is wailing. It's just so much noise. When Mrs. Hoffman is angry, she hits things. The walls, sometimes. Mostly her husband. Usually never her kids. But Jack isn't her kid, is he? There's more shouting, and then Jack gets his right in the nose. There's blood._

_He's eight. He's at a different home now, the DeLucas. He hasn't been hit by anyone since he got here a few weeks ago. He hasn't been yelled at. The DeLucas are nice. Well. They're nice, but not to him. Sure, they may not yell at him, or hit him, but he always gets tiny portions at dinner. He has to do all the chores. He's barely looked at, let alone talked to. He hasn't made any friends at his new school. He told Mr. DeLuca that he's being bullied at school, but Mr. DeLuca didn't care. He said that, to Jack's face. "I don't care." One night, Jack accidentally cuts himself with a knife while cleaning the dishes. At least that's what he says. He can't remember if it was an accident. There's blood._

_He's ten. He's become obsessed with finding his dad. He never got to meet his dad, because he left when Jack was born. Jack finds him. And it's a week of pure bliss. Hanging out with his dad, doing typical dad/son activities. Playing catch, watching movies, going out to lunch. But then he finds out that his dad has other kids. He's got a half-sister, Lea, and a half-brother, Xavier. Xavier kicks Jack out of nowhere. Just completely unprompted. He says "It's not like he didn't want kids. He just didn't want you." Jack punches him. And then he punches him again. And again, and again, and again. His dad is furious, but only Jack gets yelled at. Jack never speaks to his dad again. He sees Xavier a few weeks later, and Jack tries to run away before Xavier can hurt him again. He's not fast enough. There's blood._

_He's fifteen. He and Davey have been friends for a few months now. Davey invites Jack over to his house to hang out. It's nice. Davey's nice. Everything is nice. Davey, Sarah, and Les get along really well with their parents, and it's weird for Jack to see people be so close to their family. He sleeps over. In the middle of the night, he wakes up. And then he's in the bathroom, and there's a razor. He doesn't tell anyone what he did, he just grabs a bandaid, pulls the sleeves of his sweatshirt down to hide the scars, and keeps his mouth shut. He does it again, a few nights later. Blood._

There's a scream, and it takes a moment for Jack to realize that it came from him. Then, there's people in his room. There's voices, there's hands on his back, there's someone telling the others to give him space, there's someone else asking what happened, there's another person telling him that everything is going to be all right.

 _But it's not_ , he thinks, _everything is not gonna be all right._

_He's eighteen. He kisses Davey on the cheek on their way out of the movie theater. The Delanceys are there. They see Jack kiss Davey. There's insults and slurs spat at them. And then there's punching. Kicking. Slapping. A punch to the gut has Jack keeled over, falling to the ground. A punch to the mouth has his mouth bleeding. It hurts, and he's crying, and Davey is screaming, begging the Delanceys to leave Jack alone. They do, eventually, but everything is still horrible. There's so much blood, too much blood._

Jack realizes that he's no longer in his room. He's on the living room couch, in Dave's arms, the rest of his friends sitting around him. They're too close. Everyone is asleep, he realizes. He gets up and walks to the bathroom. He locks the door.

There's a razor on the counter.

He stares at it, and the voices in his head are yelling, arguing whether or not he should do what he's thinking of doing. If he does it, maybe his brain will shut up. He's crying again, louder this time. He's sobbing, and there's tears in his eyes. There's blood.

He hates himself for it. He's screaming again, and there's a loud crack, and he realizes that someone's kicked the door down. It's Race. Jack sinks to the floor, and Race holds a towel to Jack's wrist to stop the bleeding. He hugs Jack, who accepts the hug gratefully.

The voices in his head are quiet now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry.  
> Stink, please go do your homework  
> Love you guys


	14. haha sorry for the last chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a few things happen in this chapter  
> 1) jack has to tell davey about what happened but he doesn't because he's dumb  
> 2) road trip!!  
> 3) side plot???? is introduced??????? very fun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ummmmmmmm yeah this is a mess

"Jack, it's been three days. You gotta tell him about what happened."

Jack groans. "It's not a big deal! I'm fine now, aren't I?"

Spot frowns at him. "It is a big deal."

"I know, but-"

"Jack."

"I don't want to tell him! What if he's mad at me?" Jack really, _really_ doesn't want to tell Davey about the...incident. He's been avoiding the conversation for the past three days, and he hasn't really talked to Davey at all recently. He feels bad about it, but really, what the fuck is he supposed to do? 

"He won't be mad at you."

"I'll...think about it. C'mon, let's go eat lunch or something."

Spot sighs, but he follows Jack to the kitchen anyway. Jack looks in the fridge and groans. "None of this is really _food_ , it's just ingredients."

"Let's go out to eat, then."

Jack nods. "Alright," he says. He walks into the other's rooms to ask if they want to go to lunch with them, but mostly everyone is busy. Except for Race, because Race never has anything to do. 

"We should go on a road trip again," says Race. Kath, who they picked up on their way here, raises her eyebrows. 

"Race, the last road trip you three went on did not end well." she says, finishing her fries.

"It was fun!"

Spot turns to him, wiping some ketchup off of Race's face. "It was...chaotic, that's for sure."

"Jack, thoughts?"

Jack looks up from his sandwich. "Sorry, what?"

Kath and Spot share a look before Kath says, "We were wondering if you wanted to go on another road trip."

Jack's face lights up. "Oh, hell yeah! I need to take my mind off of things anyway."

"Alright, so it's settled then!" Race says. "Kath, you should come with us this time."

Last year, as an attempted peace offering, Spot's mom said that their summer home in Norwalk could be his. He took the offer gratefully (but he still hates his mom. As he should, honestly. She's a bitch. Spot often says that the vacation home is the only good thing she's ever given him). He, Jack, and Race had driven up there. Even though it's only about 45 minutes away from New York, they still called it a road trip. 

"I mean, I'll think about it, but I really should work on writing." Kath, for the past few months, has been writing a book. She won't tell anyone what it's about. She's been to a few publishers, but all of them have shot her down, and for the last two weeks, she's been re-writing and editing it in hopes that someone will agree to publish it. 

"Kath, you can take a break for a couple of days."

"I will consider it."

"Please don't die," Bryan says on the day that Jack, Spot, Race, and Katherine are packing up to go on the trip, "Be careful. And whatever you do, _do not let Tony drive._ " Race makes an offended noise, and everyone ignores him. Everyone's here to send them off. Jack has been avoiding Davey all morning, and he feels like shit about it, but he _really_ doesn't want to talk about what happened. 

"We should probably get going before the traffic gets bad." Spot says, noticing Jack's obvious discomfort. Race and Jack nod, and start heading for the door, but Kath isn't with them. Race sighs. 

"Kath! Stop making out with Sarah, we gotta go." 

Katherine walks into the room, a sheepish expression on her face. She's obviously just been kissing Sarah. Jack rolls his eyes before walking over to Davey and planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Hey," he whispers, "When I get back, I gotta talk to you about something." Davey nods.

"Okay. I miss you already."

Jack smiles and heads for the door, but he doesn't make it in time. He's attacked by a giant group hug. 

"We'll miss you!" everyone says. He laughs.

"I'll miss you too. Now let me go, you're crushing my ribs."

* * *

The apartment is blissfully quiet without Jack, Spot, and Race. It's a bit unsettling, really. Bryan feels as though something's...off. He's not used to it being so quiet. He can't decide if he likes the silence.

"That cute girl in my forensics class is going to kill me." Romeo says.

"Care to elaborate?" Specs asks. 

"She's my partner for this dumb project, and I haven't been doing any of the work? Because it's _hard_ and I don't wanna."

"Dude," Albert says, "That's shitty of you."

"I _know!_ But also it's really hard to pay attention in class when she's so pretty."

"You're an idiot."

"Do you even know her name?" Crutchie asks. "Because every time you bring her up, you just call her 'that girl in my forensics class.'"

"First of all, I call her that _cute_ girl in my forensics class. Second of all, if I tell you her name, you're going to make fun of her."

Specs raises his eyebrows. "Why? Is her name something stupid like...I dunno, Bertha?"

"If I had a crush on someone named _Bertha_ I would never be able to look at myself in the mirror." Albert says, and Specs nods in agreement.

"No, her name is Julie."

"Why would we make fun of-" Albert says, before realizing. "Oooooh."

"Yeah."

"Wait, I don't get it." Crutchie says, shifting so that Mercutio can sit on his lap. 

"Romeo and Julie."

"Oh, that's horrible."

"Shut up!" Romeo says so loudly that all three of the cats jump. "I know it's stupid. When our teacher announced that we were lab partners, everyone in the class lost their shit."

"No cursing!" Bryan shouts from his room.

"Sorry, Bryan! Anyway, she's gorgeous. Actually, I can find a picture of her in the yearbook, hang on."

He rushes to his room, appearing a few minutes later with his yearbook. "I think there's a good one on this page...here!"

The other three crowd around him to peer over his shoulder. The picture that he's pointing to is of a girl playing volleyball, mid-jump. She's _really_ pretty, with dark brown skin and super curly hair. Even though she's mid-jump in the picture, a position in which most people would look like shit, she still looks good. There's this concentrated, determined look on her face.

"Wow." Specs says after a while.

"Yeah."

"Just ask her out," Crutchie says, "It's not that hard."

"It is, though. She's like...super popular and her friends don't really like me. Plus, she's scary."

Albert rolls his eyes. 

"Shut up, she is!"

"I didn't say anything."

"She's just, like...really cool."

"Ask her out!" shout the others.

"No!"

"You're an idiot." Specs says, flopping back down onto the couch.

"I know."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for not updating for like three days  
> stink go do your homework


	15. an abundance of katherines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> slight tw for a short discussion of a car accident

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for not posting for a little bit! writer's block is a bitch

"I'm going to get out of the car and scream at these people if the traffic doesn't start moving in the next five minutes." Spot grumbles. 

"No you are not," says Kath, looking up from her book, "They'd beat you up."

"I wouldn't let them!" Race shouts.

"Race, they'd kill you." Kath sighs.

Jack sighs, resting his head on the steering wheel. "Why did I have to drive? I thought we agreed that Kath would drive."

"Kath can't drive," Spot says, "She's a lesbian!"

"I thought you were American?"

"Dead meme, Race." 

The traffic does not move.

"Do you think there's an accident or something?" Race asks quietly. Spot looks at him and frowns.

"It's alright, Race, I doubt anyone was hurt."

"But it's icy! They could've, like, slid on ice or something."

"Race," Jack says, "Don't worry about it. I'm sure it's just like a closed shoulder or something."

The traffic finally crawls forward.

"Oh shit." Spot says as they pass a swarm of cop cars and ambulances. They all peer out of the window.

"Doesn't look like anyone is hurt," Kath says, "It's okay."

Race sighs. “Sorry, guys.”

“It’s fine, Tony, we understand.”

* * *

Back at Denton’s apartment, hell is breaking loose.

The issue starts when Les and Crutchie decide that they’re going to throw a welcome back party when Jack, Kath, Spot, and Race get back. Les is drawing an idea for a “welcome back” cake, and he asks “How do you spell Kath’s name?”

“I think it’s with a ‘k’, right?” Romeo asks. 

Albert shakes his head. “No, I’m like, 95% sure that it’s with a ‘c’.”

“No way it’s spelled C-A-T-H-R-I-N-E. Nobody spells it like that anymore.”

“I met a girl who spelled it like K-A-T-H-E-R-Y-N-E,” Specs says, “But that’s not very common.”

Crutchie considers that for a moment. “No, I don’t think so.”

“What about C-A-T-H-R-Y-N-E?” Albert asks.

“Let’s vote,” Davey says in an attempt to calm everyone down, “Do you guys have a whiteboard or something?”

“I have one in my office.” Bryan says, and he returns with it a minute later. Davey writes down all of the options on the whiteboard.

“I mean, we could ask Saz, right?”

“Yeah! I get ten bucks from everyone if it’s K-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E.” Les says.

“Deal.” everyone says. 

“Ask me what?” Sarah says, walking into the living room. 

“How do you spell Kath’s name?” everyone asks.

Sarah blinks, a little shaken by the loud noise. “Um. It’s K-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E. Why do you ask?” 

“Les wants to make a cake for her,” Romeo explains, “So he asked us how to spell her name.”

Sarah shakes her head. “Les. You know how to spell her name. You wrote it on her birthday card like, last month.”

Everyone groans. Les grins. “I bet 10 bucks that it was spelled that way, so. Fork it over, losers!”

* * *

“Are we there yet?” Race asks for about the tenth time.

“Race. We’ve been in the car for about two hours. Why are you so impatient?”

“Answer the question, Jack.”

“We have, like, a few miles to go.”

“Thank God! I’m bored.”

“Call Romeo or something.”

“Excellent idea,” Race says, dialing Romeo’s number. He picks up on the first ring.

“Yello,” he says, “What’s up?”

“Why do you answer the phone like a white dad?”

“Shut up. What is it?”

“I’m bored. What are you up to?”

“We just spent ten minutes arguing over how to spell Kath’s name.”

“Guess you could call that...an abundance of Katherines.”

“I hate you.”

“No you don’t. Anyway, Specs texted me about that girl...what’s her name, Julie? How’s she doin’?” You ask her out yet?”

“Nah, but she sure is pretty. Pretty  _ terrifying. _ She punched a guy in the face the other day? And didn’t get in trouble? Terrifying.”

“Eek.”

“Yeah.”

“Race, we’re here.”

“Bye, Romeo!”

They get out of the car and unload their bags. Race sighs. “This is boring, let’s go get ice cream.”

“It’s December.”

“And what about it? I want ice cream.”

“You’re stupid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> go do ur homework


	16. is les involved with the mafia?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> exactly what the title says  
> CW for a little bit of discussion of murder, and the mention of slurs being said. Also Sarah almost gets sexually harrassed, but she slaps the guy in the face so it's all good. Shoutout to Uncle Rocco! He's the second best OC I have (Hugh is the first, obviously).

The first time that someone notices something strange is when Les picks the lock on the box in Romeo's room.

"Who the fuck taught Les how to pick locks?" Romeo shouts. 

"Oh, what did he open?" Specs asks, completely unfazed.

"Specs! Did you teach him how to pick locks?"

"Yeah," Specs shrugs, "It could be useful, ya know?"

"Yeah, useful for breaking into my shit!"

"What's in that box anyway?"

Les grins. "Love letters."

"Of course," Specs rolls his eyes, "Not surprising. He _loves_ that one movie...what's it called?"

"To All the Boys I've Loved Before?" 

"Yeah."

"Shut up!" Romeo groans, "Love letters are a good way of releasing my emotions."

The second time is when Les wins every single game on Game Night.

"Who taught you how to play poker?" Davey asks.

"Race. Why do you ask?"

"'Course Race was the one who taught him," Albert says, "Race _always_ wins."

Les rakes in his chips. "You guys are just sore losers."

They play blackjack next. Les wins again.

"He's gotta be cheating," Specs mutters, "There's no way."

He wins everything. It's scary.

"Les is a hustler," Hot Shot says, high-fiving him, "Good for you."

"Learned from the best."

The third time is after Les goes over to Hot Shot's for dinner. Les is good friends with Hot Shot's younger siblings, and his parents treat Les like he's their long-lost child. Sarah calls to ask if Les needs a ride home.

"Oh, no, I'm good! Hot Shot's uncle Rocco is driving me to Denton's so I can have a sleepover with Crutchie. Plus, he had to drive over there any way, 'cause he's dropping off Denton's Christmas present or whatever."

"Isn't Rocco the one who everyone thinks is in the Mafia?"

"Yeah."

"And you're...getting in his car?"

"He's nice! Plus, Bryan likes him, so."

"Okay...call me if he, like, murders someone or something."

Les arrives at Denton's apartment with Rocco close behind him. Rocco is fucking _huge_. He's gotta be at least six foot three, and he's so ripped that he looks like he could crush someone with his pinky finger. Everyone's noticed that Rocco is always wearing a suit. Always. Dark gray, with a blood-red tie and pocket square, with fancy gold cuff links. He's _always_ wearing it. Nothing suspicious about that, right?

"Rocco!" Bryan says when he opens the door, "Long time no see."

Rocco hands him a box. "A present for you."

Bryan opens the box. Inside, buried under about 10 layers of blue tissue paper, is a gold watch. A _really expensive_ gold watch. 

"Oh, God, Rocco, you didn't have to-"

"Don't worry about it."

"But it's so expensive-"

"Don't worry about it."

"Where did you even get the money for-"

"Don't worry about it, really."

Bryan shrugs, still looking a bit suspicious. "Okay, but I'm getting you something nice for Christmas."

"Oh, please. You don't have to get me anything."

"But-"

Rocco is already walking away, waving as he saunters down the hallway.

"I'm scared of him," Albert says, "And I'm not afraid of anything."

"That's a lie," Crutchie says, "You're afraid of bees. And sharks. And the mayor from the Lorax. And-"

"Guys," Romeo says, "C'mere."

They rush over to the window, looking where Romeo is pointing. It's Rocco, getting into the driver's seat of a sleek black Rolls Royce.

"Oh, yeah, his car is really nice," Les nods, "He's got a Ferrari, too."

"Where is he getting all that money?" Crutchie asks, "He's definitely a murderer or something."

"Probably."

The fourth time is the most alarming. Dave, Sarah, and Les are walking home from Denton's apartment after going over for lunch.

"Guys," Sarah says, "Are my eyes deceiving me or is that Oscar and Morris?"

"Shit." Dave whispers.

"Just ignore them," Sarah says, "Maybe they'll leave us alone."

Oscar and Morris do not, in fact, leave them alone. They snicker and call the three siblings slurs and names that most mothers would wash their mouths out with soap for saying. Sarah slaps Morris across the face when he makes a grab for her chest.

"Fuck off, creep!" she says, but before the words are even fully out of her mouth, there's a loud crunch. Sarah realizes after a second that Les just punched Morris in the face. "Who the hell taught you how to throw a punch?"

"That would be me," says Rocco, from behind them, "The kid's got a nice right hook, no?"

Oscar and Morris stare at him, Morris holding his nose, trying to stop the bleeding.

"I'd leave these kids alone, if I were you." Rocco says. They nod and scurry away. Rocco turns back to Les. "You alright, kid?"

"Yeah, thanks Uncle Rocco."

"Anytime," he hands Les a twenty, "Here. Don't spend it all in one place."

Les grins as Davey and Sarah stand there, shocked.

"Since when do you call him 'Uncle Rocco?'" Davey asks after Rocco has walked away.

"I'm 'a part of the family,' apparently. According to Hot Shot and his mom."

Davey and Sarah share a look. Sarah shrugs.

Davey calls Hot Shot the second he gets home. "Hot Shot. Did you get my brother involved with the mob?"

"Can't confirm nor deny," Hot Shot answers, "Sorry, Davey."

"I'm going to kill you."

"Hmmm, I wouldn't say that if I were you. My family might here you, and you never know, they might send a hitman after you or somethin'."

"I can't tell if you're joking or not."

"Yeah. Well, I think it's in your best interest if you don't find the answer out."

"Hot Shot, seriously-" 

But he's already hung up. Davey calls Spot.

"Spot, did Hot Shot get my brother involved with the mob?"

"Um. Maybe?"

" _Maybe?"_

"Listen, Dave," Spot says, "I don't know. But if he is involved with the mob, it's not that bad. It's better to be friends with a mafia family, cuz then you don't have to worry about getting _murdered_ by said mafia family."

"I hate you."

"Uh huh. Hanging up now, 'cause Race is about five seconds from falling off the- **Race!** " There's a loud noise. Davey flinches.

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothin'. Race just fell off the roof."

"It's concerning that you think that him _falling off the roof_ is 'nothing.'"

"He's not hurt or anything, it wasn't a very big fall. Plus, he does shit like this all the time."

Davey rolls his eyes, sighing, and says goodbye to Spot before hanging up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> go do ur homework


	17. to have and to hold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's fluff  
> (you should stay alert though because when i start loading up on fluff chapters it usually means that there's angst coming up! the thing is that i'm making this up as i go so i'm just as clueless as you are)

Spot hates crickets.

"How have they not frozen to death yet?" he asks Race. 

"I don't know," Race mumbles, half-asleep, "Maybe they've evolved or something. The Long Island Sound is like, gross, right? Maybe they got superpowers."

"That's terrifying."

"It's plausible," Race snuggles closer to Spot, resting his head on Spot's chest, "Have you seen that video of the girl jumping into the Hudson?"

"Holy shit, yeah, that's like a superhero origin story."

"If you had a superpower, what would it be?"

"Flight, probably. Or teleportation."

"That's valid. I'd choose super speed so I could simply zoom away from awkward situations."

"Okay, what food would you eat for breakfast lunch and dinner for the rest of your life?"

"Hmmm, that's a hard one."

"Yeah, I can't choose."

"When we have kids, what do you want to name them?"

Spot sits up suddenly. " _When_ we have kids?"

Race is blushing. "Yeah."

Spot lies down again, and Race shifts so his head is on Spot's chest again. "Well, when I was younger, my uncle used to play that song, Brandy? And I always thought that the name was cool."

"Oooh, that's a good one. We could name our kid...Delilah, after the song, or Cecilia after that song you were obsessed with when we were 15."

"So we're having a girl, I assume." Spot moves his hand to Race's hair and plays with it absentmindedly. Race moves in closer.

"Aren't you sick of hanging out around boys all the time?"

Spot considers it for a moment. "Yeah, little boys are hard to deal with."

"Are we gonna be good dads?" Race says, looking up at Spot, "I mean, we don't have much experience with good parenting, do we?"

"I mean, we have Bryan as an example of a good father figure. Plus, we'll figure it out as we go."

"What's our wedding gonna be like?"

"Super fucking fancy. Like, huge. We'll invite everyone we know, and it's gonna be great. We can have it in like, New Orleans or something."

"That would be so fucking cool," Race grins, "Can my suit be the James Bond suit? I wanna look cool."

"Yeah, and then we can hire someone to make it look like we have to flee our wedding, like Spy Kids or something."

"We'll make the guys fight over who gets to be best man."

Spot laughs. "What's our future house gonna be like?"

Race doesn't wait to answer. "Penthouse. Like from that movie Big? I want a trampoline and a cool fridge."

"You really do have the mindset of a ten-year-old, huh?"

"It's the trauma," Race yawns, "I revert back to little kid things."

"Hey, I'm not complaining. It means that I get to watch Sofia the First with you."

"Best Sofia the First song?"

"Bigger is Better. Or maybe the slumber party one. Also the genie rules one? That one's good."

Race smiles, and he shifts so that he's above Spot, their foreheads touching. "Hey." he whispers.

"Hi." Spot smiles softly.

"I love you," Race says, "I love you so goddamn much."

Spot kisses the tip of his nose. "I love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> go do ur homework   
> also a couple things  
> 1) newsies godfather au is in the works! i gotta rewatch the godfather for research purposes but yeah  
> 2) i'm gonna write an entire chapter about julie probably  
> 3) a chapter about hugh? might be coming up? idk  
> 4) i discovered the other day that i have an irrational fear of jeremy jordan and also ben platt so that's fun


	18. one of the boys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hot shot centric chapter!!!!!!!!! periodt  
> TW for discussion of dysphoria and transphobia

Hot Shot had always felt different. In first grade, when his mom would put him in dresses and hair ribbons, he felt like something was wrong. For a while, he chalked it up to just being a tomboy. He'd hang around with the boys in his apartment complex, and he was always closer to his brothers. When his older sister tried to play pretend with him, he'd always be the prince, or the knight that saved the princess from the tower, or the wizard who lived in the forest. Hot Shot knows that things like makeup and dresses aren't limited to girls. Hell, he fucking _hates_ gender norms. But when he was younger, all of those things were considered "girly." And he didn't _want_ to be "girly."

When he was thirteen, he was introduced to the word "transgender." And something clicked. He came out to his parents, and then to his siblings, and then his friends. A few of his friends said that they already kind of knew, which confused him at first, but he gets it now. He chopped most of his hair off with safety scissors in the second grade, for God's sake. His favorite reaction is Jack's, who just said, "Oh, on God? Cool, are we getting trashed to celebrate your coming out or...." He started wearing more traditionally masculine clothing, started going by Mason at school instead of his deadname, and saved up his money to buy a binder. The issue is that he doesn't really have enough money for surgery. Sure, his uncle is rich, and his family is comfortably middle-class, but surgery is hella expensive. He feels guilty, almost. Like asking for surgery would be selfish or something. His parents have already done so much, he doesn't want them to have to spend more than they really need to. He supposes he could ask his uncle, but that would be weird, right?

He's bored, without Spot hanging around, and his family is just so _loud_. Sure, Bryan's apartment is just as noisy, but it's like...contained noise. He can deal with it. His family is simply...loud. He decides to head over to Bryan's to like, bother Romeo, or something.

He knocks on the door, and he can hear a couple people yell "I'll get it!" 

Specs opens the door and grins. "C'mon in, we're making cookies. Or at least trying to."

" _We?_ " Crutchie asks incredulously, "I'm the only one doing anything!"

"What kinda cookies are you makin' today?" Hot Shot asks, moving to the kitchen to help Crutchie. 

"Chocolate chip."

"Oooh, a classic. Any way I can help?"

"Uh, yeah," Crutchie says, "Can you help mix the batter? I think it needs more butter but I won't be able to tell until it's all mixed together." Hot Shot nods, grabbing a wooden spoon. He reaches across the counter to get the bowl (a really nice purple one that his family gave to Crutchie last Christmas. It came with matching salt and pepper shakers, too) that has the batter in it, and gets to mixing. 

"Sure is quiet without Race around, huh?"

"Thank God," Romeo says from the table, "Now I can finally focus on my homework."

"Need help?"

"Yeah, it's just this stupid public speaking assignment. I need to memorize my speech and maybe tweak it a bit? Maybe I should, like, record it or something."

"That's a good idea. I can look over it after I'm done with this," he motions towards the bowl, "And I can help change the wording, if it needs it."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

Hot Shot often finds himself trying to help people. It's weird, because he's always tried to put on this "tough guy" persona. He's supposed to hate people or whatever. His therapist, Hannah, says that the reason he helps people all the time is because he's trying to focus on their problems instead of his own. He pretty much thinks that it's bullshit, but there's a little voice in his head that tells him _Maybe Hannah is right_. 

* * *

Romeo groans when he listens to the recording of his speech. "I hate the way that my voice sounds in recordings."

"Yeah," Hot Shot says, "I get that. I try to speak deeper, but when I hear myself talk, I'm like, 'yeah, I sound like a girl.'"

"Oh jeez, that's gotta be rough." Specs sits down at the table, pushing a few of Romeo's books off to the side. 

"It's not that bad," Hot Shot shrugs, "At least I don't have to deal with people calling me my deadname in school anymore." Hot Shot graduated high school last year. He's taking a gap year, just for a little breather, but he's starting at NYU next fall.

"I'd beat them up," Albert says, "Seriously, I can't believe people suck that much." Crutchie and Specs nod.

"That's not even the worst of it. A few guys filled my locker with these dumb notes. They said dumb shit like 'you'll always be a girl' or 'you're not a real boy.' Best part is that they used the wrong form of 'you're.' Like, hey motherfucker, I might not 'be a real boy,'" he makes air quotes, "But at least I know basic grammar."

"People are stupid." Crutchie says, taking the cookies out of the oven. 

"Yeah, you're a real boy. You're one of us. One of the boys." Albert says, and Specs nods in agreement.

"One of the boys," Hot Shot laughs, "I kinda like the sound of that."

"Sarah is an honorary member of the 'one of the boys' club," Specs says, "But not Davey 'cause to be 'one of the boys' you can't have braincells."

Hot Shot laughs again. "We should make badges, or somethin'. Just so our club is real professional."

"That," Specs says, his eyes lighting up, "Is an excellent idea."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> go do ur homework! also happy holidays


	19. boy u got me slippin', stumblin', trippin', tumblin', boy u got me fallin' in love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Race is clumsy and that's it that's the chapter  
> CW for discussion of minor injuries and blood

Racetrack Higgins is an idiot. Usually, it's fine. He doesn't make bad decisions that often. But boy oh boy, when he makes a bad decision, the consequences are, well, bad. For example, he decides to go outside this morning, even though he knows that the stairs and path haven't been salted. He's not wearing a jacket, either. He slips. His feet fly out from under him, and he comes crashing down right before the staircase leading to the front door.

"Ouch." he says, getting up and brushing himself off before heading back inside. There's a few scrapes on his elbows and on his hands from the sidewalk. Spot, Kath, and Jack enter the kitchen, all yawning and looking very, very tired. "Did you guys sleep at all?"

Spot glances over at him and looks away before doing a double take. "Tony, what the fuck? Are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah. I just slipped, it's not a big deal-"

"Your elbow is bleeding," Jack says. Kath sighs and goes to the bathroom to get the first-aid kit. 

"Fuck, that stings." Race says as she puts the stupid antiseptic solution on his scrapes. He winces when the sting gets worse. 

"How did you get scrapes on your elbows? Weren't you wearing a jacket?" Spot asks, pushing some stray curls off of Race's forehead.

"Um, no," Race says, looking away sheepishly when Spot groans, "I'm sorry! I only went outside for a second and-"

Spot sighs, grabbing a newspaper from the kitchen and whacking Race on the head with it. 

"What was that for?"

"Trynna knock some sense into you! You have to wear a jacket, Tony. It's _New England_. In winter. You can't just-"

"I know, I know."

Not even an hour later, Race falls, face-first, into the snow. Jack groans, helping him up. "How are you so clumsy?"

"I dunno. Maybe I just have...bad luck or somethin'?" 

Jack sighs. "Racer, seriously. Be more careful."

"I'll try."

* * *

On the day that they're driving back to New York, Race is helping load their bags into the car before he trips again. 

"Oh fuck," he says when he realizes that his nose is bleeding. Kath walks outside and sees Race sitting on the ground, holding his nose and tilting his head back.

"Shit!" she exclaims, "Is your nose broken? Did you fall again?"

"Kath, it's not a big deal-"

"Stop saying that! You're _hurt_ , Race."

Jack and Spot run over. 

"Shit," Spot mutters, "You alright? How bad does it hurt on a scale from one to ten?"

"Nine."

"Okay," Jack says, "We're driving you to the ER." 

"You don't have to do that, it's probably not broken-"

"Race, it's bleeding. Your nose looks fucking _busted_."

Race sighs, but doesn't argue further. They get to the ER quickly (thank God the vacation house is so close to the Norwalk Hospital), and it's not long before Race is getting an x-ray done.

The doctor is a young woman, like fresh-out-of-med-school young. She's really nice.

"How's he lookin', Doc?" Jack asks.

"It's not too bad," she answers, "It's gonna be slightly swollen for about two to three days. Now, y'all don't live in this area, Tony says. Will you be able to come here in a couple days to get his nose set?"

"No ma'am," Jack says, "We're leavin' today, but we can take him to the hospital after we get home."

The doctor nods. "All right. Let your doctor know if the pain worsens, all right?" she asks Race. He gives her a thumbs-up. "I'll get you an ice pack, to help the swelling go down a bit." Race takes the ice pack gratefully. His phone rings, and he picks up immediately.

"Yo, Jack texted saying your nose is busted," Specs says, "FaceTime me so I can see?"

"Alright," Race says.

"Jeez, that looks bad."

"It's not as bad as it looks, I swear." As he says that, the doctor walks behind him.

"Hey, your doctor is like, really pretty."

"Dude, she can hear you," Race says before turning to his doctor, "Sorry about him."

She grins. "It's alright," she laughs, moving so that she's in frame, "Thank you."

Specs smiles crookedly. "No problem."

"Please do not fall in love with the nice ER doctor," Race sighs.

"Too late," Specs giggles before hanging up.

The doctor pats Race's back lightly. "All right, kiddo, you're good to go."

"Thanks, Doc."

Race and Jack walk back to the waiting room. Spot is by Race's side in a flash. "Everything all right?"

"Yeah, the swelling's gonna go down in like two, three days? And then I gotta get my nose set."

"That's good," Kath says, sounding distracted. Race realizes she's watching Jack, a worried expression on her face. Jack looks very uncomfortable. And then Race remembers- Jack fucking _hates_ hospitals. Nobody's really sure why, but the general hunch is that it's because of when his mom was really sick and was in the hospital for a long time before she died. Jack never talks about it, and everyone's learned to stop asking.

"You okay, Jacky?" Race asks as they leave the ER.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Just hate the smell of ERs and hospitals, y'know?" Everyone nods. 

They get into the car, and Spot says, "Maybe I should drive, Jack. Your hands are shakin'." Jack sighs before getting out of the driver's seat and switching with Spot. Spot starts the car, the radio turns on.

"Fuck yeah, they're playing New York, New York!" Race says, leaning forward to turn the volume up. 

"Siriusly Sinatra is the best Sirius XM station," Kath says, "No, I don't take criticism."

"You're 100% right," Race says, "As per usual."

The ride back home is quiet, the songs playing from the radio is basically the only noise, other than the occasional "Look at this Tiktok" from Race. 

"Fuck, it's so good to be home," Race says.

"What the hell happened to your nose?" Bryan asks.

"Tripped, busted it, it'll be fine in two to three days, I'll go to the doctor to get it set. Next question?"

"Did you eat lunch?"

"Not that hungry." Race says before walking into his room, complaining of a headache. He passes out as soon as his head hits his pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> go do ur homework! ik ur probably on break but at least catch up on any overdue assignments  
> also go outside for a bit...touch a tree or smth idk


	20. the chapter we've all been dreading

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's not that bad lol   
> TW for discussions of s/h and past abuse/trauma

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this one is short, i was prepping for christmas <3

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Davey asks a few days after Jack gets home. They're sitting on Jack's bed, a sketchpad on Jack's lap. He continues drawing, not looking up at Davey.

"This is, uh, heavy stuff," Jack says, "Just...wanted to warn you."

"Whatever it is, I can handle it. Go on."

Jack takes a deep breath, before rolling up the sleeves of his sweatshirt. Davey stares at the scars, frowning.

"Shit, Dave, are you crying? I'm sorry-"

"It's just...fuck. I wish I could've helped or something. God, Jacky, why didn't you call me?"

"I...dunno. I wasn't thinking..."

"Yeah, you weren't. Jesus, you could've fucking _died_. Jack, I love you. I wouldn't know what to do with myself if you died."

"I probably wouldn't have died-"

"Jack."

"Okay, yeah, maybe I was planning to, but-"

" _Jack,_ " Davey sighs, "You didn't do anything wrong. I mean. You did, but. It's not your fault. Just....why?"

"There was this couple fighting outside, and it reminded me of when the fuckin' people at the foster homes would always be yelling. I was just...I completely panicked and my brain wouldn't shut up and I thought that...y'know...would help quiet my thoughts."

Davey notices that Jack is crying, and he reaches forward to wipe his tears. Jack flinches away, and Davey's hand drops.

"Jack."

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I flinched-"

"You know I would never hurt you, right?"

Jack doesn't answer.

"Right?" Davey asks again. Jack still doesn't answer. "Oh, God. Do you not trust me? What can I do to prove that-"

"I'm fine, it's fine," Jack says hurriedly, "I trust you, I really do, but...you never know, right?"

Davey moves a little bit closer, and Jack takes his hand gratefully. "I promise that I will never, ever hit you. I swear on my life."

"I believe you," Jack says, bringing Davey's hand to his mouth to kiss it, "And I love you."

"Love you too, Jacky."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy holidays   
> also go drink water and/or eat if u havent in a while


	21. did my heart love till now?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> short Romeo-and-Julie-centric chapter  
> shoutout Ryan for telling me to write this and giving me the plot ily mom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for fainting? is that a thing? idek but i'm putting it here just in case!!!!!!!!!! okay bye

The holiday season goes by in a blur. It’s over way too fast, which  _ sucks ass _ for Romeo, because the day he gets back from break is the day that his presentation is due. Another thing that sucks ass is that he feels very, very, shitty. His nose is running, and he’s got a  _ bad _ headache. 

“Romeo, just stay home.” Jack had begged this morning. Romeo brushed it off, heading out the door to catch a ride to school from one of his friends. 

Now, sitting in class, he regrets not staying home.

“Shit,” he half-whispers, half-groans when he feels yet another sharp pain in his head. His headache keeps getting worse, but not in the gradual kind of way. It’s more like, every few minutes, it’ll feel like there’s a construction team hammering the inside of his brain. Julie looks over at him, looking genuinely concerned. 

“You alright?” she asks. She and Romeo have actually been getting...closer, recently. She even invited him to sit with her and her friends at lunch the other day. Romeo smiles, well, grimaces really. 

“Yeah, I’m alright. Just a little headache, is all.” Julie frowns slightly, but turns back to the front of the room and waits as Tommy and Elmer finish their presentation. 

Romeo’s headache gets worse during the presentation, but he struggles through it. And then finally,  _ finally, _ it’s over.

“Good job.” Julie whispers.

Romeo shoots her finger guns, winks, and promptly passes out.

“Oh, shit.” Julie whispers as Romeo hits the floor. 

“Oh, good, you’re awake,” says a voice, “The nurse thought that you were like, in a coma or somethin’.”

Romeo sits up, slowly. He’s in the nurse’s office, in one of those plasticy beds that smell really bad. Jack is sitting on a chair next to him.

“Did I..,pass out?”

Jack nods. “It’s cuz you didn’t eat breakfast or drink water all day. Also, you’re  _ fucking sick. _ ”

“I didn’t have a fever or anything!”

“Fine, fine. Whatever.”

The nurse gives Romeo a little check-in before sending him off with Jack to go home. Right before they’re about to leave, Romeo realizes that he left all of his stuff in his classroom.

“I can call the teacher and ask if they can send someone to bring it down.” says the nurse.

A few minutes later, Julie walks in, carrying Romeo’s bag. It’s strange. Something’s….off. Romeo realizes that she’s  _ smiling _ at him. Like a real smile.

_ Jesus, _ he thinks,  _ she sure is pretty when she smiles. _

“Thanks, Jules.” he says, and Jack grins.

“Is this the Julie you were telling us about?” he asks, and Romeo groans. Julia giggles and lets Jack shake her hand.

“So why'dja pass out?” she asks Romeo. He rubs the back of his neck, embarrassed.

“It’s ‘cause he’s a little sick, and he didn’t eat or drink water all morning.”

Julie rolls her eyes. “Leave it to Romeo to do something so stupid.”

“Aw, fuck off.” he says, shoving her playfully. 

“No, really. That was real stupid of you,” she says, leaning on the nurse’s desk to write something on a piece of paper, “Good thing I think stupid is cute.” She hands Romeo the paper, waves, and leaves the office.

He unfolds it, and there, in pink ink, in Julie’s perfect handwriting, is a phone number. Julie’s phone number. He practically squeals on the way to the parking lot.

“Holy shit,” Jack laughs, “All you had to do to get her number was faint!” 

Romeo promises Jack that he’ll sleep when he gets home, but he doesn’t. He’s too busy texting Julie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> christmas eve should be illegal i hate the waiting  
> also idk the next few chapters might be on the shorter side but do not fret!!!!!!!!!! i have a big one comin'


	22. albirt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> short filler chapter about al being bi

Every year, at Medda’s, there’s a production of the Nutcracker. And this year, it was  _ hella good. _ The star of the show, the nutcracker himself, was, like,  _ really hot. _ It’s a few days after closing night, and Al and Jack are helping put all of the costumes away, and the man, the myth, the legend himself walks past them.

“Dude, that dancer is really hot,” Jack says, “I mean. Not that you like. Like guys. But him? He’s hot.”

Al rolls his eyes. “Don’t you got a boyfriend?”

“Shut up! The guy is cute, alright?”

“Yeah, he’s hot,” Al says, and continues hanging the costumes up. Jack stares at him, shrugs, and turns up the music, “God, you listen to this song all the fuckin’ time.”

“Yeah, no duh, I’m bi? It’s Sweater Weather?”

“I’m not bi, and I like this song.” Jack stares at him.

“Al. Albert. Bertie Boy. You just called a guy hot. You cuff your jeans. You love iced coffee. You and Specs have that weird relationship going on-”

“Specs and I aren’t in a relationship-”

“You’ve made out multiple times.”

“So?”

“So. Did you  _ like _ it?”

Albert considers this, for a moment. “Fuck.”

“Wait holy shit,” Jack gasps, “I was joking! I was joking, ohmygod, wait. Are you. Are you bi?”

“I….yeah. Wow, yeah, I guess, now that I think about it, I am.”

Jack nods. “Rad, welcome to the club.” And they both go back to what they were doing.

* * *

“So,” Al says, leaning on the kitchen counter, “Y’know that cake you made when Bryan came out?”

Crutchie nods. “Uh huh. Is there something you want to...tell us?”

“Shut up.”

Les giggles. “So...you want us to bake you a coming out cake?”

Al nods. 

“We’re on it, boss.”

The cake is set on the table. Everyone stares at it.

“What the hell,” Specs asks, “Is ‘Albirt?’”

“Did you...misspell it?” Race asks.

Jack snorts, and Al gives him a look that says “shut the fuck up or I will kill you.”

“No, it’s...Al-bi-rt? Get it?”

Everyone stares at him, silent. And then:

“OOOOOOOOOH, YOU’RE BI!” Race yells. 

“Yeah,” Al nods, “Surprise!” 

“So are you and Specs, like….dating?” Romeo asks.

“Um. No.” 

“That could change.” Specs says, winking at Al.

And. 

Well.

Fuck.

That’s. Well. Obviously, Specs is joking, but all day, Al has been wondering if he has a crush on Specs. And that stupid fucking wink didn’t help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> will they get together? who knows? i sure don't cuz im making this up as i go  
> i wrote this amidst a brian david gilbert marathon


	23. i slept in until noon today. here's a new chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> specs loses his glasses and jack can't speak

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes it is filler shut up

Specs walks into the kitchen.

"Rad sunglasses," Race says, "Wheredja get 'em?"

"Thanks! They're Sarah's."

"How can you see without your glasses?" Al asks.

"I hardly can, but I got 'em right-" Specs reaches for his collar, where his glasses were hanging.

They're not there.

"Oh shit," he mutters, and then goes to the hallway to shout to Bryan, "I lost my glasses!"

Bryan leaves his room, looking very, very tired. "Well, you needed a new prescription anyway....let me call them to see if I can get you an appointment."

He sits on the stool next to the old-fashioned wall-mounted phone (it's surprisingly functioning, even though it's been here since the apartment was built, which was, like, the 60's or something). After the call is over, he sighs. "The next open slot they have is for next Friday."

Fuck.

That's almost a week away. A week of Specs not being able to see ten feet in front of his face.

"Jack, you've been real quiet," Specs points out, "You haven't made fun of me once for losing my glasses."

"Oh, he can't speak," Spot says, "Made a bet with Race that he could stay silent for a week."

"Thank God, finally. We get some peace and quiet."

Race snickers.

* * *

**One Week Without Jack Saying** **Anything**

**a report by David Jacobs**

**Day One**

It's nice, but it's a little inconvenient to have to wait for Jack to write down whatever he wants to say. The lack of bad jokes is nice, though.

**Day Two**

Spending time at Bryan's is actually quite boring without Spot and Jack's constant bickering. I know I often complain about it, but it is quite entertaining. I realize this now.

**Day Three**

It's quiet. Too quiet. I miss calling Jack to say goodnight. Texting is okay, but it's just...not the same. Is it stupid that it physically hurts to not be able to hear Jack say "I love you?" It's probably stupid. Also, I just remembered that I'm writing this report for Race, so hi Race, don't make fun of me for that. Just disregard it. I'd erase it, but it's in pen, so. 

**Day Four**

I can't believe Jack's lasted this long. I thought that he would only be able to last two, maybe three days, but he's really exceeded my expectations. This afternoon, Albert gave him one of those gold star stickers that he carries everywhere. What's scary is that his outfit doesn't have pockets. Where did he pull the stickers out from?? Very concerning. Jack, if you're reading this, good job.

**Day Five**

Apparently, we forgot to tell Sarah that Jack can't speak for a week. She got upset because he hasn't talked to her in a few days, and I had to beg her not to murder him. Anyway. Jack is struggling. He almost lost it this morning, but luckily Specs talked him out of losing the bet. 

**Day** **Six**

I regret letting Jack agree to this. I'm bored. And I miss hearing his voice. Is that stupid? It's stupid. This is dumb.

**Day Seven**

Finally, this is over. The issue is that Jack won't shut up now. Apparently, he's "making up for all the words he would've said this week." Please kill me.

* * *

**Things That Specs Has Done During the Time Spent Without His Glasses**

**a list by David Jacobs**

  1. He ran into the wall ~~five~~ six times (he ran into the wall as I was writing this).
  2. He accidentally baked a fork into his banana bread. I have no idea how he managed to do that.
  3. He missed the last step on the stairs to the lobby, and fell down right in front of the cute girl from apartment 505. He locked himself in his room and sobbed because he "ruined his chances with her." I think that already happened last week when he used that horrible pickup line on her, but whatever.
  4. Make that seven times running into the wall. 
  5. He keeps trying to type things, but since he can hardly see, he keeps misspelling them. My favorite one was when he tried to write "valid" but ended up writing "vlaud."



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow 24 chapters of this bullshit


	24. oh shit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Al gets sick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter sucks ass  
> yeah we're back to the plot but its a short chapter because i!!!!!!!! cannot!!!!!!! write!!!!!!!

“Bryan, Al is dead!” Race shouts. Bryan groans and walks to Al’s room. “He won’t wake up.”

“Oh God.” Bryan says, trying to shake him awake. It takes a while, but Al’s eyes finally flutter open.

“W’thefuck?” he asks when he sees Race and Denton standing over him.

“Are you alright?” Bryan asks, worried.

“Yeah, I’m just sick. It’s just a stomach bug, don’t worry.”

Bryan lets out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank god.” 

Everyone is fussing over Al all day. Hugh brings over soup and Race keeps running in and out of Al’s room every so often to ask if he needs anything.

“It’s just a stomach bug, guys, stop getting all worried.” 

“Shut up,” Specs says, shoving a spoonful of soup in Al’s face, “Here comes the airplane!”

Al reluctantly eats the soup. “You don’t have to spoon-feed me, Specs.”   
“Shhh. Let me take care of you.”

Specs puts the empty bowl on the nightstand Al rests his head on his shoulder. Specs runs his fingers through Al’s hair.

_ This is platonic _ , Al reminds himself,  _ We’re just friends. Stop catching feelings for him. _

He falls asleep.

* * *

It’s not a stomach bug.

It’s acute appendicitis.

Bryan rushes Al over to the hospital, with the rest of the boys in tow. He’s rushed to surgery.

“Fuck,” Jack mutters, “Fuck, he’s gonna die, isn’t he?”

Jack’s face is slowly turning green, and Crutchie’s is stark white. Both of them look really, really goddamn scared. 

“He’s not going to die, Jack,” Spot says, “He’s gonna be okay.”

“But appendicitis is a big deal!”

“He’s not going to die.”

The surgeon walks into the room, and there’s something about his expression that says something is wrong. 

The room holds its breath.

Then, the surgeon speaks. “I have bad news.”

Oh shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol idk if he's gonna die or not guess we'll just have to wait and see


	25. oh shit: continued

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> he's dead

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for death and vomit

Al's funeral is a nightmare. It's too crowded, and too...quiet. Specs wishes someone would say something, _anything_ besides "I'm sorry for your loss." The issue with having a huge friend group is that when one of you dies, everyone suffers. It's shit.

Nobody wants to give a eulogy. Nobody knows what to say. How can they be expected to say everything they loved about Al in just a single speech? It's not fair. He was just a _kid._ And hell, Al has been through _so much,_ but they lose him to fucking _appendicitis_? 

Almost everyone is crying. Most of them are sobbing uncontrollably, except for Jack and Spot, who have these stony expressions on their faces, forcing themselves not to cry. 

Time crawls by.

It gets worse, as the weeks go on.

Nobody wants to clean out Al's stuff from his room.

It's quiet in the apartment. Specs doesn't talk for a full week.

Nightime. Specs sits in Albert's room. He's been sleeping in here for the past few days, doing anything to feel closer to him.

Specs never got to tell Al how much he loves him.

He never got to say "I have a crush on you."

Never got to ask Al on a date.

Never got to kiss him.

 _It isn't_ _fair,_ he thinks. 

Life isn't fair, but death isn't either.

* * *

He wakes up with a start.

"Oh hey, he's awake!" Race says cheerfully.

Jack smiles at him. "Al is gonna be fine, he just has to stay overnight 'cause the anesthesia made 'im sick."

Specs blinks.

"I..."

And then he's crying.

"Shit," Romeo says, "Are you okay?"

"I had the worst nightmare ever."

Spot frowns. "Let me guess...he died in your nightmare?"

Specs nods.

Crutchie rushes to his side and hugs him. "Well, he's fine now," he says, "Everything's okay, okay?"

Another nod.

"Can I...go see him?"

Bryan nods. 

Specs is up in a flash, in Al's room in record time.

"Hey, Bertie."

Al smiles weakly. "Hey, Specs."

"You look like shit."

"I _feel_ like shit. I've thrown up like three times in the past hour."

"Gross."

"Yep."

Specs takes a deep breath.

"Al, I love you."

"I love you too-"

"No, I mean like. _Love_ you. Like uh. Want to kiss you."

"Ah."

Silence.

"Wait," Al says, his eyes wide, "You're being serious."

"Yeah."

"Oh! Well, um. I...feel the same way about you but I was worried that you didn't feel the same way about me? I mean, you do. But I was worried that you didn't. So."

Specs laughs. 

"Hey, when I get discharged from this goddamn hospital," Al smiles, "Let's...go out on a date, maybe?"

Specs nods. "I'd like that."

Al pulls a sheet of stickers out of thin air and motions for Specs to come closer. Specs stands next to him, and Al places a purple smiley face on his cheek. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HA TRICKED U LOLOL


	26. romeo and julie(t)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> julie meets Da Boyz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmmmmmmm i cant decide wether or not romeo is straight in this one but then i thought: OMG JULIE IS LIKE, BI ASTROLOGY BITCH AND ROMEO IS HER GOLDEN RETRIEVER BOY which didnt really clear up wether or not he's straight BUT i came to the conclusion that he's pan. so.  
> it's not really relevant since he and julie are endgame but he's gonna have a few chapters abt struggling with figuring out his sexuality and then the Coming Out Cake can return

"So, Julie," Romeo says as he and Julie walk to the cafeteria, "My...dad? Father figure? Guardian. Bryan wants me to invite you over for dinner. I advise that you say no."

She smiles. Wowza, her teeth are white. There's a gap between her two front teeth, and a few of her teeth are crooked, but it's charming. Romeo is so busy admiring her smile that he almost misses what she's saying.

"Why would I say no?"

"Well. My...brothers? Technically we're not....hmmm. The idiots that I live with are annoying."

Julie laughs. "Okay, well. Just wait until you meet my brothers. They're literally the worst."

"Oh, how many brothers do you have?"

She sighs. "Five. Two older, three younger. I guess that Mike and Ike count as one person, so."

"So you're the middle child, kinda?"

"Yeah. Y'know that whole thing about the middle child being ignored?"

He nods.

"Not in my family. Since I'm the only girl, the spotlight is on me."

They sit down at the table. Julie's friend Jojo sits across from Romeo.

"Wait, he's sitting with us now?" Jojo asks.

Romeo rolls his eyes. "Hi, Jojo."

"So are you and Julie, like, a thing now?"

"Um...."

"No," Julie says, wiping some crumbs from her goldfish off of her blue tennis skirt, "He's gotta prove himself first."

"Yep!" Romeo smiles, "Julie's, like, the best, so I gotta show her that I deserve the best, or whatever."

Julie smiles.

Jojo rolls his eyes. "Stop being a cute couple."

"We're not a couple."

"Shut up," Jojo says, opening a bag of Fruit Gushers and offering them to Race, "Want some Gushers?"

"I'll trade you some fruit snacks."

"Deal."

"So, Jules," Romeo says, after lunch is over, "Are you taking me up on my offer?"

"Yeah, I'll come over for dinner."

"Rad. Don't be late."

* * *

Julie ends up being late.

"I'm so sorry I'm late," she says when he opens the door. 

He gasps.

Julie looks really, really good. She has on a blue rockabilly pin-up dress, and her curls are in a bun at the top of her head. 

"I know I told you not to be late, but you're _fashionably_ late. And you look gorgeous."

She smiles. "Thank you, Romeo."

"Ohmygod!" Race says, "She's even prettier in person."

Julie's smile gets bigger. "Hi."

Race shakes her hand excitedly. "I'm Race, and that's Spot, Jack, Specs, Crutchie, and Al."

The guys wave. 

"Oh, is she here?" Bryan asks from the kitchen. 

"And that's Bryan!" Romeo says, "Say hi, Bryan!"

"Hello," Bryan says, "C'mon in!"

Dinner goes surprisingly well. Race doesn't say a single stupid thing, and Jack charms Julie's socks off (to the point where Romeo is like "yo don't make her fall in love with you).

"I had fun," Julie says, "Thanks for inviting me."

She kisses Romeo, and then waves, and then she's gone.

He stands in shock.

"Holy shit, she kissed you!" Race exclaims.

"Ohmygod, ohmygod." 

Romeo runs to the couch and squeals like a little girl into the pillow. 

"You're such a simp." Spot says.

"You have no room to talk! Race has you wrapped around his little finger!"

"....That's....fair."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am not sorry for the last chapter i regret nothing


	27. stinky babie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> cats cats cats

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> very very short

"Our cats are stinky." Race points out. Spot picks up Juliet to sniff her.

"Oh god, you're right."

"Tybalt is the stinkiest, we should give him a bath first."

"Hmm. Yes. Wet stink boy."

Race laughs. "What the fuck?"

Tybalt hates baths, apparently. He scratches Spot, like, ten times.

"I hate this cat."

"Spot! He's just a baby. A teensy little stinky baby."

"He's an annoying little stinky baby. Kinda like you."

"If anyone's the stinky _little_ baby, it's you, because you're short."

Spot fills up the plastic pitcher they've been using to wash Tybalt and pours the water over Race's head. Race gasps.

"You did not just pour water on me."

"I did."

"I hate you." Race says, but there's no bite to it.

"Oh, please, it was just water. Go dry off, you can borrow my clothes."

Race's eyes light up at that. "I'm keepin' 'em!"

"I said _borrow!_ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow 2021 is very soon


	28. BOOM

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> exploded corndog ):

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a short one but HAPPY NEW YEAR

"Spot! Help!" Race shouts from the kitchen. Spot rushes in.

"What did you do this time, Tony?" 

Race looks away sheepishly and mutters something.

"Race...what did you do?"

"I blew up my corndog in the microwave..."

Spot groans. "Literally how?"

"I DUNNO!!!!!!!! It just...exploded."

Spot sighs, and gets another corndog from the freezer. He cleans out the microwave and pops the new corndog in. 

"Thank you, baby." Race says, and Spot ruffles his hair.

"I love you, Seanie."

"I love you too, Tony."

Crutchie groans. "There are other people in this kitchen, you know."

Race flips him off just as Bryan walks into the room. 

"Race! Don't do that to Crutchie."

"Sorry, Bryan!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shoutout to da homie valolsen432 for telling me that their corndog blew up


	29. the iguanas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie meets Kath and Sarah

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the idea of kath, sarah, and julie being friends makes me happy so

"I think you'd like Kath and Sarah." Romeo says to Julie. They're sitting at Julie's usual lunch table, with her friends Blink, Jojo, and Tommy Boy. Romeo doesn't really know much about Julie's friends, but he does know one thing: they're popular. They're not popular in the way that, say, Regina George or Heather Chandler were popular. No, they're more like, the cool, mysterious kind of popular. They're all in a little witch's coven, and they carry crystals everywhere and have little sigil keychains on their car keys and backpacks. They have nose rings, wear eyeliner, and dress in that 90's-grunge-meets-60's-hippie kind of way. Very much "Age of Aquarius" from Hair. He's trying to make a good impression, and it seems to be working. He had a pretty nice conversation with them earlier, but right now, they're all reading, so he's talking to Julie instead.

"Who are Kath and Sarah?" Julie asks, looking up from the tarot deck she's shuffling. 

"My friends. They're a little bit older than us, but they're cool."

Julie goes back to shuffling. "Tell me more about 'em." Romeo has noticed, recently, that Julie always says "tell me more" whenever he brings something up. It's...really nice, but he can't tell whether or not she actually cares or if she's just being polite. He's hoping that it's the latter. 

"Well, Sarah is my friend Davey's twin sister, she's really cool, um. She graduated, what, last year? I think? But she and Davey are takin' a gap year. Kath is Sarah's girlfriend, she's twenty-one, uh, she's a good writer...both of them are really funny? I dunno. Um. They remind me of you 'cause they're, like, fashionable and funny and smart."

Julie grins at him. "Yeah, I think I'd like them."

"Cool, cool. Kath's actually picking me up after school, so if you need a ride or anything..."

"That would be great!" Julie's grin gets wider, flashing her pearly white teeth, and Romeo is taken aback at how _pretty_ she is.

He thinks about it for the rest of the school day. She stands out, mostly because she's one of the only black kids in their grade, but also because she just knows who she is. She's confident, walking down the halls with perfect posture, her head held high. Even though her family doesn't have a lot of money, Julie still manages to have the best wardrobe in the school. She's literally never repeated an outfit. Romeo asked her what her secret was, once.

"So, you know how in the 90's, the 'grunge' style started getting really popular?" she had asked, and Romeo had nodded, "Well, that was mostly because kids in garage bands didn't have a ton of money, so they'd go thrifting or get hand-me-downs from their siblings or cousins. Well, my family doesn't have a lot of money either. You'd think that I wouldn't like hand-me-downs, on account of my older siblings are guys, and none of my mom's clothes are my size, right? But since I do costumes for school shows, I know how to tailor stuff to fit me and look good. Plus, my aunt works at a thrift store, so whenever something good comes in, she lets me snag it."

Romeo admires that Julie doesn't let her lack of financial security affect her livelihood. He does worry, sometimes. Like today, he noticed that Julie didn't pack a lunch, and when he asked her about it, she said "oh, we didn't have enough to go grocery shopping, and I don't think there's enough money in my account to buy anything." He wonders if he can talk to a school counselor about it. Or maybe Bryan could help, somehow...

The final bell rings, Romeo waits for Julie by the front exit. She's there almost immediately after he is.

"You got here quick." he says.

Julie only has one of her backpack straps on, and she fidgets to get the other one on. "I hauled ass 'cause I didn't want to keep you waiting." 

They head out to the parking lot and towards Kath's car. 

"Hey, Romeo!" Kath says, and raises her eyebrows when Julie slides into the backseat with him, "Who's your friend?"

Julie smiles politely at Kath. "I'm his girlfriend, Julie."

Kath's eyes light up. "Ohmigod, I've heard so many good things about you! It's so great to finally meet you." Julie and Kath talk the whole way to Denton's, chattering about school (Kath used to go to their school, so she used to have a couple of Julie's teachers) and their friends. Romeo is glad that the two of them seem to have clicked already. He's a little nervous about how Sarah and Julie will get along, but he also knows that there's really nothing to worry about. 

The car stops at the curb in front of the apartment building, and they head inside. 

"Hey, guys!" Sarah says as Romeo opens the door. Jack and Davey wave from the couch.

"Hi, you must be Sarah!" Julie says, "I'm Julie."

The three girls sit down at the table and start talking. Romeo leaves the conversation after a while, deciding to get started on his homework.

"So tell us about your friends!" Kath says.

"Well, my friends and I are planning to start a band, but none of us know how to play bass, so."

Sarah perks up. "Oooh, I can play bass!"

"Wait, really? Ohmigod, do you want to join our band? We're called The Iguanas- don't ask- we meet every Saturday, I can text you the details. Also, we need someone to help us write songs, 'cause at the moment, we're just a cover band, but we really wanna put out an album."

Romeo stops working on his English project to look up. "Kath is a good writer, she could do it."

Kath blushes. "I'm not that good..."

Sarah shushes her. "Babe, please. You've won, like, multiple awards for your writing."

"Please please please write songs for us?" Julie asks, "I'll help you!"

"Alright, since you asked so nicely."

The three girls exchange numbers. 

"What should we call our groupchat?" Sarah asks, "I always give my groupchats cute names."

Julie scratches her head, thinking. "How about...The Powerpuff Girls?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Sarah says, "That's literally perfect! Kath is in my contacts as Blossom, actually, and I'm in hers as Buttercup. We've been looking for a 'Bubbles,' and you're literally perfect for it!"

The girls talk for the next few hours, and Kath starts writing a song. When it's around six o'clock, Julie jumps up.

"Oh crap!" she exclaims, "Sorry, I gotta go! It's a full moon tonight, and we're having a little full-moon ritual, my mom will kill me if I'm late!" 

"Do you need a ride home?" Kath asks. Julie shakes her head.

"No, I'll just get a cab. Thanks for the offer, though! It was nice to meet you!" she kisses Romeo's cheek on the way out, "Bye, babe! I'll call you."

And then she's gone.

"Wow, that girl is like a whirlwind," Sarah says, "I like her."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for not posting for two days haha


	30. space and fresh air

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> OH MY GOD IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING EVERYONE STAY CALM  
> they're planning to move to santa fe and...well, you'll find out lolol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's short but whatever

(AN: hi yes hello here is the fic playlist shh don't tell anyone)

"Let's say, hypothetically-" Jack starts to say, and Davey groans, "Shhh, just hear me out. What if we, I dunno, moved to Santa Fe?"

Davey sits up. "Jack."

"What? C'mon, you promised you'd hear me out."

"I didn't promise anything. Jacky, we don't have money. Plus, we're still kids, basically."

Jack throws his hands up, exasperated. "Dave! I'm twenty-one!"

Davey raises his eyebrows and sighs. "Jacky, you have the emotional intelligence of a thirteen-year-old. You can't just...up and leave, you'd be terrible at taking care of yourself."

"That's what you'll be there for!"

"No, Jack."

Jack rests his head on Davey's shoulder. "C'mon, please?"

Davey knows that Jack's dream has always been to move to Santa Fe. Everyone knows that in his free time, when he's not drawing or painting, Jack scrolls through Zillow to look at potential homes. Jack wants space, and fresh air. Davey gets it, but he doesn't understand why Jack can't wait until they're a little bit older. Moving out at nineteen and twenty-one is not Dave's idea of fun.

"Why do you want to move to Santa Fe so badly?" asks Davey, even though he already knows the answer.

"I want to have space, and fresh air. I'm sick of New York."

"There's fresh air in Connecticut, why don't you move there?" 

Jack wrinkles his nose. "No." Jack is as stubborn as a mule (are mules even stubborn? Literally what does that mean how are mules stubborn). Davey knows that no amount of arguing can change Jack's mind about this.

He tries anyway. "Everybody would miss you."

"They can come visit!"

"Fine, then, you move to Santa Fe. I'm not leaving."

"Davey! Please? I want to be with you. We can start a life, a real life there. You can go to a community college, get your degree, and be a teacher, and I can...I dunno, sell my art and get a part-time job. It'll be fun!"

"I'll think about it." Davey sighs, but they both know that he will not think about it.

Jack frowns. "I really need you to think about this, Davey. It's kind of a huge deal. I mean, sure, people would miss you, but there's more to life than New York City. Plus, you really gotta get out more. Try new things, y'know?"

To be honest, Davey does entertain the idea sometimes. He's considered it, and it's not...a bad idea. He knows it's selfish, but hey, he'd have Jack all to himself.

"Maybe one day, but not now. I'm just...not ready."

"Are you really not ready? Or are you just saying that 'cause you're nervous?"

Shit.

"I'm not nervous...I just....I'd miss my family, you know? I mean it's hard for me to spend the night here without getting homesick, let alone moving all the way to Santa Fe."

"Davey. You can visit your family. If I move to Santa Fe by myself-which Iwill do, by the way-your separation anxiety would be real bad."

"I-"

"You know you want to."

"I-"

"Please?"

"Fiiiiiine. But only because you asked nicely."

Jack's eyes light up. "Wait, really?"

"Yes, really."

"Let's say, hypothetically-"

"No more hypothetical."

"Shhh. Hypothetically, if I asked you to marry me-not now obviously, stop looking at me like that-would you say yes?"

"I mean, yeah. I'd say yes, even if you asked me right now. But we wouldn't actually get married until a couple years from now."

Jack reaches over to the nightstand and grabs a little box. Davey's heart stops functioning.

"Oh my God." he whispers.

Jack opens the box, and inside is a gold ring.

"Davey, will you-" Jack starts to ask, but Davey is already nodding, kissing him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah yeah yeah okay so!!!!! the wedding isnt until a few years (? idk maybe one or two) from now and they're not moving until a little later so don't worry abt it yet


	31. jack's 2 accidental secrets: his government name and his engagement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jack kelly is dumb and he forgot that nobody knows his real name  
> also oops! they accidentally tell les & the girls abt the engagement  
> xoxo,  
> gossip girl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short short short  
> it's okay tho cuz i think i'll write a long one soon

"G'morning, Dave," says Jack when Davey opens the door, "I got my new license in the mail and I wanted to see how bad the picture is, right?" he walks in and sits at the table, "But I didn't want the guys to make fun of me if it's a bad picture, so," he opens the envelope, "I brought it here."

"Okay..." Davey says, holding in a laugh. Jack has a habit of pretending not to be super self-conscious. It makes sense, really, Davey has seen how hard the boys laugh at bad pictures of people. Jack looks at the license, frowning. "That bad, huh?"

"Yeah," Jack groans, and yanks it away when Davey reaches for it, "You can't see! It's embarrassing." They tussle around for a few moments before Sarah walks in, sees the struggle, and snatches the license away from Jack.

"Oh, yeah, wow," she laughs, "This picture is bad." She's making a move to hand it back to him when she notices something. "Wait, who's _Francis?_ "

Les looks up from his seat at the counter, and Kath sidles up next to Sarah to look at the license. "Yeah, who's Francis Sullivan?"

They all stare at Jack. "Wait, I didn't tell you my real name?"

" _What?"_ Davey asks, incredulous.

"Yeah, Jack's my middle name, and Kelly was my mom's name. I go by 'Jack Kelly' because well, I'm sure as hell not a Sullivan and 'Francis' is a shit name. Nobody ever called me it, I don't respond to it anymore, honestly."

Davey rests his head in his hands. "We're getting _married_ and you didn't tell me your real name?"

The room goes silent.

Davey has always hated the phrase "so quiet you could hear a pin drop" because a) who the hell is dropping pins and b) that would have to be _so very quiet_ because pins don't make a lot of noise, but he understands it now. At first, he thinks, _why is it so quiet?_ But then, he realizes what he said.

"You're getting _married?"_ Les, Kath, and Sarah say in unison.

"Oh, God," Davey says, "I forgot that they don't know."

Jack shakes his head, smiling slightly.

Sarah gasps. "When the fuck- Davey, stop looking at me like that, Les is old enough to _hear_ curse words, for God's sake- when the _fuck_ were you going to tell us?"

Davey and Jack look at each other, then back to Sarah. Jack shrugs. "I dunno. Soon, I guess."

Les raises his hand. "Can I be the flower girl?"

"You can be the flower boy, yes."

"No. I want to be the flower _girl_. You can't just change the job title! It's a time-honored tradition."

Kath raises her eyebrows. "Married, huh? Gonna have your honeymoon in Santa Fe?"

Jack clears his throat. "Actually...funny story..."

Kath's hand flies to her mouth. "You are _not._ "

Shit.

She knows.

"Yeah," Davey says, "We are."

Les and Sarah share a confused look. "You're what?"

"We's movin' to Santa Fe," Jack says, "Uh, not soon, but. Eventually."

"Oh my God." Sarah says.

"Don't tell any of the boys yet, okay? We're planning on tellin' 'em about the move soon, but we're not telling them about the engagement until later."

Sarah nods.

Les raises his hand again. "Can I bake a cake? It can say 'we're moving' or something!"

"Yes, Les, you can bake a cake," Davey says, "We're telling them next week, probably, so start designing it soon."

Les does a celebratory air-punch, and Jack grins. Davey thinks he looks a little bit like a proud father.

And.

Oh.

That's a new thought.

Davey shakes the thought from his mind. _Too soon_ , he thinks, _waaay too soon._

He'll talk to Jack about it later, he decides.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you ryan for the chapter title and the plot  
> also stink!!!! are you back in school? because if so go do ur homework


	32. i ain't 'fraid of no ghosts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> basically julie is the best and the apartment is probably haunted

The thing about Julie is that she's always doing little things for people.

For example, after Romeo told her that he loves those little strawberry hard candies that grandmas always have, she brought him five pounds of them the next day. Or when Jack mentioned that he needed new colored pencils and she gave him a box of _really expensive_ ones. 

But sometimes, Julie doesn't give things directly to someone. Sometimes, she likes to have fun with it.

So when Crutchie starts a community garden on the apartment roof, Julie has an idea. She goes out, buys about 10 seed packets, and hides them around the apartment. Crutchie is estatic. So Julie decides to do it every time she goes over to Bryan's. It becomes a game of sorts, where the boys have a little scavenger hunt for the packets. At first, she was hiding them in really obvious places, but she's been sneakier lately. She hides them in between pages of books, under stacks of plates, in piles of clothes, jacket pockets. She even managed to tape a few to the ceiling. 

She goes along with it, of course. She joins the search, always looking in the wrong places, trying to throw them off the trail. It's hilarious.

And then it goes from good to great. Jack convinces Crutchie that the person leaving the seed packets everywhere must be a ghost.

So when Julie goes home that night, she does a little digging. Turns out that someone _did_ die in their apartment building, about twenty years ago. Also, it just so happens that he owned a flower shop. 

Very convenient. 

Julie prints out a copy of the guy's obituary and brings it over to Crutchie the next day.

Everyone goes wild.

The next time there's a search for seed packets, Julie stumbles across one hidden behind the couch cushions.

She freezes.

She did not put it there.

"What the fuck." she mutters. But she figures that maybe she forgot she put it there or something.

But then. She finds three more, all in places _she hasn't been in._

Julie is losing her mind.

"What's wrong, Jules?" Race asks when he walks into the living room and sees the look on Julie's face. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

She gulps.

"You can't tell anyone this, but I'm the one who's been hiding the seed packets."

"That doesn't explain why you look so freaked out."

She holds up the packets that she found. "I didn't hide these ones."

Race's eyes widen. "Wait, so do you think there's actually a ghost?"

She shrugs. "I mean, it's a possibility."

A few minutes later, Race is telling everyone that there's definitely a ghost. He sticks to his word, though, and doesn't tell them that Julie was the one hiding the seed packets initially. 

Jack looks genuinely terrified. "I was joking, when I said that."

"Yeah, but you could've been right!" Race exclaims excitedly. "It's about time something interesting happened around here, right?"

Everyone nods.

They decide to do a little more digging into all of the people who've lived in the building. Julie and Race look for fingerprints on the packets she found, but they don't find any (that aren't hers). It's a full-blown investigation.

"I am an omnipotent god," Race says as he reads obituaries over Julie's shoulder, "And I will punch this ghost in the face if I have to."

"I don't think you _can_ punch ghosts, babe." Spot says.

" _You_ probably can't. I can." 

"Whatever you say." Julie and Spot say in unison. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do ur homework


	33. sarah strikes once again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, yes, this is me projecting onto sarah  
> even though i'm not a girl, i'm still afab and mostly female-presenting, so i have to deal with this bullshit  
> also this was inspired by a tiktok i saw yesterday but i can't remember the creator's name  
> stan her or else !!!

Sarah Jacobs hates boys. Of course, most of her friends are boys, but that's besides the point. Back in kindergarten, when there was that whole debate over "boys rule, girls drool," Sarah punched this kid Scott for saying it. Luckily, he was a little wimp and she scared him into not telling the teacher. 

Sarah hates that as a girl, she's not allowed to have interests.

For example: "You only like Marvel because you think Tom Holland is hot." Sarah doesn't even _like guys._

Or: "You're not a _real_ gamer, you only do it so boys will think you're cool." Once again, _Sarah does not like boys._

The issue for today arises when someone notices that she's wearing a Pink Floyd shirt.

See, guys love to do this thing where they go "oh, you're a fan of (insert band here)? Name five songs other than (band's most popular song)." Sarah hates it. The thing is that she's not even a fan of Pink Floyd, it's her dad's shirt and she's just wearing it because it's cozy.

But luckily, she came prepared for this.

So when she and Kath are out today, getting coffee, and some guy comes up and asks Sarah to name five Pink Floyd songs, she has a reply ready.

She glares at him. "Name five reasons why I should allow you to talk to me."

He blinks. 

Katherine stifles a giggle.

Sarah taps her foot impatiently. "No, really, name five reasons why I should allow you to talk to me. I'm waiting."

He opens his mouth, and then closes it.

"Exactly," Sarah says, pausing to take a sip of her coffee, "See, if I were a guy wearing this shirt, you wouldn't ask me to 'name five songs,' would you? Because you don't think that girls can have interests."

People are watching now, hanging on to Sarah's every word.

"Let me tell you something, buddy," she says, smiling sweetly at him. "Your favorite thing is not being ruined because girls like it. Shouldn't you be happy that the fanbase is getting larger?"

He opens his mouth yet again, but Sarah holds up a hand to silence him.

"I really, _really_ don't care about what you have to say." she says, still smiling. 

The guy walks away.

"Guys are stupid." Kath says, taking Sarah's hand as they leave the cafe.

"Yes, they are."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember when VSCO girls were a thing and boys made fun of them for,,,wanting to save the turtles? what the fuck was that about?  
> anyway sorry for the short chapter but i'm working on a longer one i promise  
> go do your homework and eat something/drink water


	34. cat.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> BASED OFF OF SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED TO ME LAST YEAR IOAKBFUV:FUIHBKFN

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a short lil chapter bc i had an idea and i HAD to write it

Davey is not having a good day.

Apparently, Sarah told Race, because thirty minutes in to Davey's second crying fest of the day, there's a knock at his bedroom door. 

"Come in," he says.

Race walks in, holding one of the cats (Davey can never remember which one is which, despite the fact that they look nothing alike). He hands the cat to Davey.

Davey looks at him.

"Cat," Race says, and then he leaves the room.

The cat stares at Davey.

Davey stares at the cat. "What am I supposed to do with this?" Davey wonders out loud. The cat meows in response. Eventually, it curls up on his lap and starts purring. He smiles. 

A few hours later, Sarah walks into his room to tell him that dinner is ready, and she finds him and the cat together on the floor, both sleeping soundly.


	35. gamers? more like GAYmers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they do be gaming doe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> full disclosure i know nothing abt video games  
> i watched SO MUCH sinjin drowning that i just. couldnt stop thinking about gamer!race so

"What's up guys? Today I'll be kicking Al's ass in Mario Kart!" Race grins at the camera. Al rolls his eyes.

"No, I'm kicking _your_ ass."

Race shoves him. "You absolutely will not be, fuckin' _Daisy main_."

Playing Mario Kart with your best friend should be fun, right? Sure, it might be a little competitive, but it's all in good fun, _right?_ Not if your best friend is Racetrack Higgins. The boy is _obsessed_ with Mario Kart. Usually, when Albert and Race go live, they play Minecraft or Roblox or some shitty horror game that scares the shit out of both of them. But when they play Mario Kart, it's a whole different vibe. They become...a little _too_ competitive. For instance, last time they played, Jack had to stop Race from punching Al over a blue shell. Speaking of which...

"If I have to break up another fight, I'm killing you both!" Jack calls from his bedroom.

"Shut up, Jack!" Al shouts back. He turns to Race. "The live chat is going fucking _insane_ right now, dude. Pick your character so we can play, damn."

"Don't make fun of me-"

"I would never make fun of you-"

"I'm choosing Peach."

"Of course."

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"

Race wins the game (of course, if you play as Peach you're most likely going to win), and they do their stupid stinky poopy little outros before ending the live. "Was that one good enough to keep up on the channel?"

"Definitely," Al nods, "Should we film the Q&A tomorrow?"

"Yeah, alright."

* * *

"Okay, first question," Specs says, reading from Al's phone, "em0gamer666 asked how long you guys have known each other."

Race and Al share a glance. 

"Um...." Race says, tapping his chin. "I don't know how time works, next question!"

Al snickers. "We've known each other since we were really little, we've been friends since the dawn of time."

"Yeah, he used to fall all the time and scrape his knees and I'd have to help him-"

"Race."

"Yeah?"

"That was _you._ You were the one who fell all the time."

"I _was?_ "

"Yep. Okay, next question."

Specs nods and looks back at the phone. "ftm1lliona1re99 asked Al to tell an embarrassing story about Race."

The room goes silent.

Al looks at Race, who shakes his head violently. "I swear to God, if you tell the beads story-"

"SO THIS ONE TIME," Al's mouth forms a shit-eating grin as he turns back to the camera. Race groans in protest. "When we were like, seven? Race and I were at school, right? And he had this little bracelet, with these real pretty blue beads. Well, he broke it. And he heard the teacher coming, so he freaked out because he thought he was going to get in trouble for making a mess. Guess what he did." A pause. "He picked up the beads...and _put them in his ears._ Like. INSIDE of his ear canal. He had to get surgery, it was very funny. The worst part is that the doctor was like 'oh I've seen worse. One time, a kid lost his tooth on the bus and didn't know where to put it, so he stuck it in his ear.' Anyway, yeah, that's the most embarrassing one I can think of off the top of my head." 

"I hate you." Race mutters. Al just smiles at him.

"xxgamergfxx asks..." Specs pauses, squinting at the phone. He laughs. "The next question is 'how long have y'all been together?'"

Race chokes on his gum. Al pats his back until he stops coughing.

"We're not..." Race starts to say, but he erupts into a fit of giggles.

"We're not dating, guys," Al says, "Oh my God. Did our fans think that we were...dating? This whole time?"

Race and Specs are doubled over laughing.

"We're both in relationships," Race explains when he's finally stopped laughing, "Just not with each other."

Al motions for Specs to come into the camera. "This is my boyfriend, Specs. Isn't he just the cutest?"

Race rushes out of the room and returns quickly with a very annoyed Spot. "And this is Spot! He's my boyfriend, and he's much cuter than both of you."

Al sticks his tongue out at Race.

"Dude, people are, like, _begging_ for us to have Specs and Spot in more videos." Al says a few days later as he checks the comments of their latest upload.

"I know," Race responds, "xXgaymer_69Xx commented saying that it's Spot's channel now."

Al snorts. "D'ya think he'd start a channel if you asked him real nicely?"

"If by that you mean bribe him into doing it with kisses, then yes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah the beads in ear story is something that i did when i was younger, shut up


	36. hot choccy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> he eat hot choccy.....or does he (dun dun DUUNNNNNNNNNNNNN)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im gonna write a longer spot-centric chapter i swear  
> im working on one but it's...sad :) im not sorry  
> anyway enjoy this useless chapter

Spot puts up with a lot of shit. But Race trying to eat hot chocolate mix (dry. No milk or anything)? He's about to go insane.

"Race. You can't eat hot chocolate mix," Spot says, snatching the mason jar full of chocolate powder away.

Race grabs it back. "Did you know," he says, ignoring Spot, "That it's called 'hot cocoa' when you make it with water but 'hot chocolate' when you make it with milk?"

Spot sighs. "No, I didn't know that. Now can I _please_ have the hot chocolate mix?"

Race pouts. "No."

Spot groans. "Please? I'll make you actual hot chocolate."

"I don't _want_ hot chocolate. I want to eat the hot choccy mix. Dry."

Jack stops outside their door. "Are you planning on eating the dry hot chocolate mix again?"

Spot's eyebrows shoot up. " _Again?"_

Race ignores him, and nods to Jack, who gives him a thumbs up and says, "Yummy!"

"Jack, no! Stop encouraging him!"

Eventually, Race surrenders, and Spot makes him a cup of hot chocolate.

"Not hot enough. It needs to be burning hot or else it's not good enough."

"You're so needy. You're gonna burn your tongue, y'know."

"I don't care. Make it hotter or else."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> race is a needy bitch


	37. wake-up call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bryan gets a call at three in the morning, and it's pretty bad news

It’s three in the morning when Bryan gets the call. At first, the sound of his ringtone seems like it’s just part of his dream, but after a few seconds, the fuzzy dream-like state wears off, and he picks up.

It’s Spot, his voice shaking. “Hey, ‘m sorry to wake you up, but uh. I need you to come pick me up.” Bryan is suddenly very awake. Spot sounds so defeated and tired that Bryan starts to worry.

“Okay.” He says, getting up and putting his shoes on, not even bothering to change out of his pajamas. He throws a shirt on, a Star Wars shirt that Jack got him for his last birthday, and puts on his shoes. “Where are you? I’ll be there as soon as I can.” And then Spot tells him that he’s at the  _ fucking police station. _

Luckily, the apartment building is close to the station, so it won’t take long for Bryan to walk there. His heart is pounding as he walks down the sidewalk, a million thoughts rushing through his head. He prays that Spot is okay. Spot is a good kid, most of the time, so why the  _ hell _ is he at the police station? Bryan tries to slow down his breathing as he reaches his destination.

He walks in, still visibly panicked, and says that he’s here for Sean Conlon. He’s brought back, and there’s Spot, half asleep, leaning against the wall. He jumps a bit when he sees Bryan. It’s all over quickly, after Bryan bails him out. They start walking back home.

"So do you want to tell me why I had to come pick you up or is this just a secret?" Bryan asks. He looks at Spot, who refuses to make eye contact. "Look, Sean, I'm not going to kick you out or get mad I'm just worried about you."

And that’s when Spot breaks down and starts  _ crying. _ Bryan is shocked, and he just stands there for a moment, unsure of what to do. Through his tears, Spot says "I saw this piece of shit trying to beat up a kid and pulled him off the kid, and he punched me and I hit back in self defense, and I got arrested but they wouldn't listen to me about the kid. I’m so sorry and I’m sorry you had to come pick me up and-"

Bryan hugs him. “It’s okay. Everything’s okay. Let’s get you home, alright?”

When they get home, Jack and Race are sitting in the kitchen, both in their pajamas, looking very worried. Race jumps up and hugs Spot. “Jesus Christ, Seanie, I thought you died or something.”

“‘M okay,” Spot says quietly. 

Jack looks at Bryan, concerned. “You gonna tell us what happened?” Bryan shakes his head.

“Now’s not a good time. I think it’d be best if we just let Sean get some sleep, and we can talk about it in the morning.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so sorry for not posting in a while. updates might be really slow because 1) i have school and 2) idk but i've just lost motivation recently. don't worry, i'm still invested in writing this fic, and i have things planned, it just might take a while. i hope y'all are still interested in reading. anyway, i love you and i hope y'all are taking care of yourselves <3

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr so we can scream about newsies! my tumblr is da-good-da-bad-da-vinky


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